If someone randomly asked me what I thought of the idea of injecting silver into the body, I would say I presume it’s toxic, but I don’t know. I would then do a 30 second search on the effects of the stuff and discover that it offers no medical benefits and, in fact, can lead to the condition known as argyria. This is when the skin turns a grey/blue color for life. Apparently it’s only cosmetic, but so are many other disfigurements:
Now, if someone asked the same question to a naturopath or any other quack, the result might be this, especially in Vermont: “Oh, sure, it’s great stuff. Really great stuff. Do you want an injection? I’m legally allowed to put this poison into your body, after all.” They would say this because Vermont, like several other states, allows naturopaths to prescribe certain things for ‘patients’. One of these things is colloidal silver, which is just silver suspended in a solution. My hope is the Green Mountain State is unique in its allowance to naturopaths to poison people, but I’m not sure.
Check out the anger of one person afflicted with argyria:
If NDs had known as much about medicine as I, an educated consumer, do, they would have searched the medical literature before including anything in their formulary. If they had done that, they would have seen that: there are no studies showing that ingesting silver in any form or amount offers benefits; colloidal silver does not treat eye infections; taking silver internally or putting it in your eye can result in permanent discoloration.
If NDs had checked common toxicology reference books, they would have seen that silver causes argyria. If they had looked at old pharmacology books, they would have found warnings about the uselessness and danger of taking it internally. If they had checked current ones, they would have discovered that those practicing scientific medicine discarded silver long ago.
If NDs followed notices published by NCCAM, the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, or the FDA, they would have seen consumer warnings as well as the FDA rule in the Federal Register stating that silver cannot be used as a drug because ingesting it offers no benefits and is dangerous.
If NDs had googled “silver” or “colloidal silver”, they would have learned all of the above.
If they followed the mainstream media, they would have seen Paul Karason or me. The local, national and international media has covered our stories extensively. Paul was on Oprah. Consumers Reports listed “colloidal silver” among its latest list of “dirty dozen” supplements to be avoided. The Wall Street Journal said, “federal regulators say it a total scam”.
(Paul Karason is the guy pictured above.)
I find it just deplorable that we license these people at all, but to allow them prescription rights is actively dangerous. Even if they manage to not prescribe contraindicated drugs – something I doubt most of them are even aware should be a concern – they still have the right to effectively give people poison. It’s awful.
via SBM
Filed under: Pure bullshit | Tagged: Argyria, Colloidal silver, David Gorski, Naturopaths, Naturopathy, Paul Karason, Quack quack quack, Rosemary Jacobs |
For the Sake of Science 
The beard just makes him look beyond awesome.
I don’t know whether colloidal silver does anything positive for a person or not (certainly seems like internal use has a lot of negatives), but I know silver does kill microbes.
Most of the socks issued to me by the army had silver threads or some such thing. Allegedly the DoD was looking for a way to reduce sock changing. Seems minor, but if you can wear the same socks for a few days it reduces the need for laundry, reduces the weight a soldier has to carry, and reduces costs over the long term.
It’s only anecdotal, but I have tested them and found the silver socks to be fresher, not fresh, just less unfresh. I wore a non-silver sock on one foot and a silver sock on the other. At the end of the day, the ones containing silver were a lot less stinky.
In Ontario naturopathic doctors are regulated by the state.
At least according to Wikipedia, NDs are licensed to perform minor surgeries in British Columbia and can, like their Vermont colleagues, prescribe medication.
Incidentally, I cannot be the only nerd who thinks that Paul Karason looks a bit like a duergar, can I?
Yes, as I understand it, the quacks were given prescription rights not too long ago: https://forthesakeofscience.com/2009/11/28/naturopaths-are-dangerous-quacks/
There are only two states (South Carolina and Tennessee, I believe) which regulate naturopaths perfectly: the practice is illegal there.
Isn’t it interesting though with all your degrading comments that the US GOV”T used it primarily during WW1 for controlling infection in soldiers with wounds? I guess that thought it was bull shit too huh? NOT !
I think you have a chip on your shoulder & dislike Naturopaths because you’re invested somehow in allopathic medicine & pharmaceutical drugs. We ALL know that the 3rd biggest cause of deaths in America is due to DRUGS.. no, not drug addicts… drugs prescribed by doctors that kill people ALSO who are we kidding the current HEALTH CARE system is NOT … it’s a SICK CARE SYSTEM that’s NOT going to help people get well or then they’d cut off the BILLIONS of dollars of profit they make by selling drugs that NEVER HEAL… Dr’s know NOTHING about healing… they ONLY know about DRUGS to prescribe… that they learned in medical schools that were trained by pharmaceutical companies on what drugs they sell….. WTF… are you on drugs now?
You can’t REALLY believe all that BS you wrote … oh
Quack, quack, quack.