Matthew said, "Are you saying that argyria is caused by the large particles? Dissolved silver salts such as silver nitrate and silver citrate can and do result in argyria, even though there are no elemental silver particulates in the solution. The Ag+ ions are as small as particles of silver ever get, but they cause argyria if enough are consumed though the dissolved salt may be colorless. Raw, infected water can be sanitized by electrolyzing silver in it, but this occurs at ppb levels, not ppm levels. So the risk of argyria is nil."
This certainly brings up discussion of the mechanism of argyria. The basic idea of what causes argyria comes from the practise of the Royalty during the appropriately designated "Dark Ages", where they would mechanically grind up silver into powder and stir it into water or wine and drink, knowing that somehow it minimized the chances of sickness occuring. The idea here is that as these large particles flowed through the blood stream, they would eventually reach the capillaries in the skin, and become lodged there, where they would discolor the skin. There has been significant discussion of the dynamic of silver particles becoming silver salts during digestion and in other ways. When these silver salts become lodged in the capillaries of the skin, exposure to sunlight causes them to revert back to a metallic silver, which is dark colored. The bluish coloring would actually be a combination of the dark silver coloring combined with skin color. You said, "Dissolved silver salts such as silver nitrate and silver citrate can and do result in argyria", and, "they cause argyria if enough are consumed though the dissolved salt may be colorless." I would dispute that. In fact the only cases of argyria we have (that any details are known about) in the last 100 years involved either silver dust (silver smiths), silver medicine (silver nitrate, i.e., Rosemary Jacobs), or coffee-colored EIS (Stan Jones). What other cases of argyria are you referring to? What Jacobs took is not substantiated, but all logic says it was silver nitrate, since a doctor administered it to her, and doctors weren't using pure, clear EIS (CS) then, nor even now. I know of no cases of anyone experiencing argyria from silver citrate. Can you cite such a case? Silver nitrate is not clear, nor are any of the silver proteins. Does anyone understand otherwise? Has anyone seen a clear silver preparation that has been specifically implicated in argyria? If a silver preparation is clear colored, we understand that to mean the particles are not big enough to refract light, which would make them smaller than a red blood cell. If a silver particle is smaller than a red blood cell, it doesn't seem to me likely to become lodged in the capillaries of the skin. Why then would it affect the skin at all? Peter Lindeman demonstrated that silver has no propensity to accumulate in the human body. If silver particles do not accumulate, and they cannot become lodged in the capillaries (being too small), what mechanism would describe its causing argyria? One might hypothesize that silver ions (AG+) do somehow become lodged in the skin in spite of their tiny size, but I have seen no priciple explained to descibe it. Lindeman's study would refute that idea. You also said, "Raw, infected water can be sanitized by electrolyzing silver in it, but this occurs at ppb levels, not ppm levels. So the risk of argyria is nil." Wherever would you get the idea that making EIS with polluted water would only give ppb levels of silver? In fact, the presence in the water of large amounts of minerals/chemicals would make the water highly conductive, which would speed up the the electrolysis process considerably. Add to that the very positive reports of success using this river-water EIS against malaria, etc. Both the UCLA and the Brigham Young studies showed EIS to be slightly effective at 2-1/2 ppm and most effective at 5+ ppm. This is much higher than ppb. I have seen no evidence that any amount of clear (meaning small particles) CS/EIS, made with any kind of starter (other than something already toxic to begin with) does or even can cause argyria. I would be interested in reading any science to the contrary. Terry Chamberlin ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
