Part Two:
Here are a few examples of ads containing
techno-babble and bogus scientific claims.
Here is a partial list of ionic silver products.
Silver protein (aka mild silver protein) - Silver
protein products consist of a combination of metallic
silver particles and a protein binder. When colloids
contain particles that are too large to stay
suspended as a result of the mutual repulsive force
protein additives will help to keep the large
particles from settling. While various protein binders
may be used, the protein most commonly used is an
animal protein called gelatin. Gelatin is obtained by
boiling the skin, tendons, and ligaments of animals.
As a result, it contains protein,
collagen (a primary component of joints, cartilage,
and nails), and various amino acids. Gelatin is widely
known by the trade name Knox Gelatin. Gelatin is water
soluble and will remain in liquid form
provided a sufficient amount of water is present.
Most products claiming to be high concentrations of
colloidal silver, typically in the range of 30 to
10,000 ppm are in fact silver protein colloids.
While some of these products are labeled as Silver
Protein or Mild Silver Protein, many such products are
simply labeled as colloidal silver and the word
protein does not appear anywhere on the label or in
the product advertising literature. Silver protein
products are the second most prevalent type of
colloidal silver products on the market. These
products can easily be produced by simply adding water
to a silver protein powder sold by various chemical
companies.
Silver protein products generally have very large
silver particles, so large that they would not remain
suspended as colloidal particles without protein
additives. For these large metallic silver particles
to remain suspended in water, they need additional
buoyancy to keep from sinking. This is why the gelatin
is added. The gelatin molecules will
encapsulate each particle of silver and add enough
buoyancy so that it does not sink to the bottom. It is
analogous to tying a balloon to a brick to keep the
brick from sinking. Without the gelatin these large
size particles cannot remain in colloidal suspension.
Due to the high concentration of large silver
particles these products are known to cause argyria, a
condition that causes the skin to turn blue-gray. Of
the three types of colloidal silver, silver protein
products have the lowest particle surface area for a
given silver concentration.
For more detailed information see About Silver Protein
Products.
Three characteristics of silver protein products are:
Makes foam: When shaken, a silver protein product
produces foam above the liquid that will persist for
minutes after being shaken. This is probably the
single most reliable indicator. Even when the product
label identifies the product simply as colloidal
silver and never mentions the word protein, this
indicator will signal the presence of a protein
binder. Shake the bottle and look for foaming. When
the foam persists, protein is present.
Concentration: Silver protein products tend to have
very high concentration values, typically in the range
of 30 to 20,000 ppm. Concentration is expressed in
parts per million (ppm) and is numerically the same as
milligrams of silver per liter of water (mg/L).
Color: The color ranges from light amber to almost
black with an increasing concentration of silver.
Here are scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of
silver protein products. The images clearly show the
very large size of the silver particles which appear
to range in size from about 100 nm up to 7000 nm
with some much larger.
Adding protein to colloidal silver is also potentially
unsafe according to Professor Ronald Gibbs who
discussed this fact in his booklet
"Silver Colloids". He found "mild silver protein"
products that had live bacteria growing on the
protein. This can happen when protein is mixed with
colloidal silver because the protein molecules are
large and encapsulate the silver particles which
prevents the silver from reaching the bacteria to in
order to kill it. Normally, it would be impossible for
bacteria to live in colloidal silver, but it is common
in products containing protein. For this reason,
Professor Gibbs recommended that silver protein
products should be avoided. Common protein additives
include Knox gelatin and casein protein. Knox gelatin
is an animal derived protein.
Here is the quote from Professor Gibbs book concerning
use of protein to stabilize colloidal silver.
"A fifth sample considered showed fuzzy clusters
around silver particles when viewed in water [Figure
3A]. Because these clusters resembled bacteria, a
special staining technique was utilized to confirm the
impurity. The sample was injected with live cell
nucleic acid stain [STYO 13] which is taken up by live
bacteria and shows as bright green when viewed using a
500 nm-long pass emission filter for
fluorescence detection. As suspected, this fuzzy
material fluoresced indicating the material was,
indeed, live bacteria growing on the gelatin that had
apparently been used to stabilize the colloidal silver
suspension. In Figure 3A the black dots inside the
fuzzy mass are the silver particles. This sample
exhibits the poor quality control that is totally
unacceptable in this type of product. This sample was
removed from further consideration and analysis."
Professor Gibbs book "Silver Colloids, Do they work?"
can be downloaded here.
Here is a partial list of silver protein based
products.
True silver colloids- The silver content in these
products consist of both silver ions and silver
particles. The majority of the silver content is in
the form of silver particles which makes these
products true colloids. When referring to colloidal
silver, the word colloid means silver particles. To be
a true silver colloid means the majority of the silver
content is contained in the silver particles. True
colloids will typically contain 20% to 49% of the
silver content in the form of silver ions while the
majority of the silver content is contained in the
particles (more than 50%). Of all the types of
colloidal silver, true colloidal silver products have
the highest particle surface area. High particle
surface area is achieved by a high percentage of
silver particles combined with very small sized
particles. True colloidal silver products are the
least prevalent type of colloidal silver on the market
due to high degree of manufacturing
complexity and the resulting high cost of production.
The nanometer sized particles in true silver colloids
remain in colloidal suspension with out requiring
protein or other additives. It is the mutual
repulsion of the particles created by the zeta
potential charge that keeps the particles uniformly
distributed in the colloid.
Due to the very low concentration of ionic silver and
small particle size, true silver colloids do not cause
argyria, a condition that causes the skin to turn
blue-gray.
Of the three types of colloidal silver, true silver
colloids have the highest particle surface area
relative to the total silver content. The ratio of
particle surface area to total silver content
indicates how efficiently the colloid is able to
produce particle surface area which determines
effectiveness. Higher conversion efficiencies are more
desirable.
Because of the high concentration of silver particles,
true silver colloids are never clear like water. Some
companies that sell ionic silver claim that their
product is "true colloidal silver" in an
attempt to confuse the buyer into believing that their
product is a true colloid. Don't be fooled by the
bogus claims, if the product is clear like water then
it is ionic silver, not a true silver colloid.
Colloidal particles absorb visible light causing them
to have an "apparent color" which is the complement of
the absorbed wavelength. Silver ions do not absorb
visible light and therefore appear as clear
liquids.
End.
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