History Of Silver In Germ Control

Middle Ages 
During the days of the black plague in Europe the wealthy people drank from silver goblets and ate from silver plates with silver cutlery.  As a result, they suffered much less sickness than the commoners who could not afford silver utensils.  Even then, the conventional wisdom was that silver would keep you from getting sick.  The reason why was not known until Louis Pasteur discovered germs.

Pioneers
When the pioneers were traveling across the plains in their covered wagons they knew to put a couple silver dollars in the milk jug to keep the milk fresh and sweet.

Laboratory Studies
Over the years laboratory tests have shown that over 650 pathogens die within a few minutes of coming in contact with ionic silver.  Nearly ever germ that can make you sick is killed by ionic silver.

Treatment Thru The Late 1930's
Silver was the treatment of choice to fight infection until the miracle of antibiotics came along.  Unlike antibiotics, pathogens do not develop resistance to the killing power of silver.

Negative Effects From Treatment
Early treatment with silver salts and finely ground pure silver caused negative side effects.  Folklore tells about the skin of those who used these types of silver products suffered a condition called argyria where their skin took on a blue gray  color.  Modern ionic silver has been extensively tested and shows no discoloration of the skin and  no other negative reactions or side effects.

A recent example of argyria seen on TV was caused by drinking large quantities of "colloidal silver water" for over 14 years.  This silver water was produced with what appears to be a "home built" generator created from plans probably from the internet.  Back in the early 1090's there was a hugh amount of misinformation and confusion on the production and use of colloidal silver available on the internet.

An examination of his home generator shows a number of likely problems.

1. The electrodes are long skinny wires.  Assuming the wires are pure silver it is still unlikely that a suitable product could be produced with this unit.

2. The wire electrodes are about two to three inches apart.  A low voltage electrical charge will not effectively introduce silver ions into pure water with the electrodes that far apart.  It is common with a generator of this type to add salt or some other chemical to the water to cause the electrical current to flow.  Any of these added chemicals are prone to react with the silver ions rendering them virtually useless and potentially likely to create silver compounds which have been proven to cause argyria.  The shape and positioning of the electrodes is critical to the effective production of ionic silver in pure water.

3.  There appears to be no mechanism to control the concentration (PPM) of the treated water.  Laboratory tests have shown that concentrations of less than 20 PPM are appropriate to eliminate treatable pathogens.  Excessively high concentrations cause by the addition of chemicals and salts are likely to result in argyria.

I know of several individuals who have used properly produced ionic silver water for over 12 years with no adverse effects.  These people took up to an ounce of 20 PPM silver water daily and their skin color is normal.  The testimonials of hundreds of ionic silver users over the past 10 years have not reported any change in skin color. 

Methods Of Production
Early production of silver medications was done by chemical processes or grinding silver to a very fine power.  Modern methods use electrolysis to produce pure safe ionic silver.

Aerobic vs Anaerobic Bacteria
Bacteria are divided into the following two basic categories:
Aerobic - Breathe directly from the environment and are generally beneficial to humans, animals and plants.
Anaerobic - Do not breathe directly from the environment and are generally harmful to humans, animals and plants.

Ionic vs Colloidal Silver
What  Is A Colloid
A colloid is a very small particle of a substance which is suspended in a liquid.  Ionic silver is an extremely small particle (nonoparticle) of silver colloid suspended in pure water.

Nonoparticles Have An Electrical Charge
Each nonoparticle of ionic silver carries an electrical charge which causes the nanoparticles to push away from each other resulting in the nanoparticles staying in suspension for years.  This same electrical charge actually attracts the anaerobic pathogens (germs) like a magnet and destroys them.  Once the germ dies, it falls away from the electrically charged nanoparticle and the nanoparticle attracts another germ and kills it.  In this way the nanoparticle keeps working until it is eliminated from the body.

Storage Precautions
Ionic silver must be stored in the dark - away from light either in a dark colored bottle or in a dark place.  Ionic silver stored in this way is very stable, will not degrade, evaporate and is not sensitive to relatively high temperature.  As a test, I stored a bottle of ionic silver in a dark bottle in the trunk of my car for two weeks with no discernible change.  The car is black and was parked in the hot California sun daily.

Significance Of PPM Concentrations
The 20 PPM "Standard"
Most electrolytically produced colloidal silver is in a range of 10 PPM to 30 PPM.  Electrolytically produced colloidal silver at concentrations much above 40 PPM tend to form a precipitate which falls to the bottom of the storage vessel as a black coating.

PPM vs Particle Size
Particle size is a better indication of product effectiveness than PPM.  The smaller the nanoparticle, the greater the surface area of the silver particles resulting in more effective treatment.

For example, if you place a one ounce pure silver coin in one million ounces of pure water (7,812.5 gallons) the resulting concentration is equal to 1 PPM.  This water would be useless for treating any condition.

If you pulverized the one ounce coin into one million small pieces, you would still have one PPM.  This water may have healing properties because of the greater surface area of the particles, however the relatively large particle size could well put you at risk for argyria.

If you add one ounce of nonoparticles of silver to one million ounces of pure water you would still have one PPM, however the effectiveness would be greatly increased and the danger of side effects would be eliminated. 

Very High PPM's
Products with extremely high PPM's, (often in the range of 300 PPM to 5000 PPM) are almost certainly produced through chemical means and contain precipitates of fairly large particle size.  I would not consider these products to be ionic or colloid in nature.

Experience With Lower Concentrations
While most ionic colloidal silver is sold in the 10 PPM to 30 PPM range, I have found through experimentation that a lower PPM of high quality ionic silver appears to be of equal effectiveness.  It appears that the particles of silver are not consumed in the process of killing pathogens, but rather continue to kill pathogens until the particles of silver are removed from the environment which occurs in humans in six to ten hours.  I frequently dilute my 20 PPM solution at a rate of four parts of chlorine free water to one part of silver solution.  This makes the use of ionic silver much more cost effective.

Dilution Precautions
It is important that ionic colloidal silver be diluted with water which will not cause a reaction with the silver.  Chlorine must be avoided since it will react with the silver causing a useless gray precipitate of silver chloride.  I find that the use of a faucet mounted filter works well to eliminate chlorine and other contaminates.  (Note: If your diluted solution starts to become cloudy it is probably time to replace your faucet filter.)  Water that contains other minerals may also cause problems when used to dilute ionic silver.  If this occurs, you may need to use distilled water.