Re: Colloidal Silver FDA Ban (CNN HeadLine News)

Enigl@aol.com
Wed, 8 Jan 1997 18:34:05 -0500 (EST)


I found the CNN news story at http://www.cnn.com/health/index.html. Here it
is:

CNN - FDA weighs merits of colloidal silver - Dec. 31, 1996

FDA weighs merits of colloidal silver
Some claim it's a miracle cure, for others it merely colors
the skin
December 31, 1996
Web posted at: 5:50 p.m. EST
>From Correspondent Linda Ciampa

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Rosemary Jacobs has a skin condition
called argyria. It hasn't made her sick -- but it has turned
her skin a bluish-gray.

"I've had trouble getting jobs," Jacobs says. "And it's
because people are afraid that my face is bad for business.
And they don't know what it is."

Jacobs has seen numerous doctors over the years and believes
her argyria was caused by nose drops she used as a child. The
nose drops contained a substance called colloidal silver.

Colloidal silver was widely used for treating colds and
syphilis before World War II. Its popularity dropped as
other drugs were developed, but in the early 1990s, colloidal
silver re-emerged as a food supplement and over-the-counter
drug.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration has stepped in to force
manufacturers of colloidal silver to prove claims that
it can cure everything from AIDS to cancer to multiple sclerosis.

Doctors disagree

Dr. Jeff Anderson of northern California doesn't make any
outlandish claims about colloidal silver, but he does use
low doses to treat some patients with infectious diseases.
And he thinks today's colloidal products are safer because
they're made with much less silver than those of years ago.

Anderson acknowledges that doses as high as those used past
years "would accumulate (over a period of time) and
cause argyria."

But Dr. Man Fung, a toxicologist at the University of
Pennsylvania, says even today's low-dose silver products can
build up in the body if taken long term. He questions its
value.

"Why (would) you want to pay $50 to buy a bottle, and then
expose yourself to some potential toxicity which has no use
and will not do anything to you or for you?" he says.

Colloidal silver manufacturers which sell the product as a drug
have until the middle of January to prove their claims to the
FDA. Until the FDA makes a recommendation, consumers must
decide whether colloidal silver is helpful or not.

http://www.fda.gov/ U.S. Food and Drug Administration
http://www.colloidal-silver.com/ Colloidal silver
http://www.elixa.com/silver/ Colloidal silver - Make your own
-------------------------------------------------
Davin's Note:
<<Colloidal silver manufacturers which sell the product as a drug
have until the middle of January to prove their claims to the
FDA. Until the FDA makes a recommendation, consumers must
decide whether colloidal silver is helpful or not. >>

This is nothing new or sensational. FDA always expects this proof if the
product is sold as a "drug." Nutritional Supplements are not drugs but they
can be mislabeled with _drug_claims_ , a "no-no." I do not interpret this
as an FDA ban in mid January.

Davin

Davin C. Enigl, MS-MEAS
President-Microbiologist

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Validations
for the Food, Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Industry

HACCP Validations (sm)
enigl@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/enigl/index.html

January 8, 1997
3:01 pm