Publication Date 01/04/2011 Volume. 3 No. 3

Read this First

Editorial

Welcome to the April home page edition of i2P. A lot certainly happens over a month in pharmacy and health-related activities.
When we first started publishing our primary concern was to cover pharmacy issues within Australia, delivered monthly. Eleven years on we now cover global pharmacy and associated health issues on a daily basis, but delivered weekly.
New areas embracing climate change, food growing and processing and information technology are all increasing areas of health concern. Their impacts translate into systems that affect health negatively or positively and for all such contemporary issues, pharmacists need to have a working knowledge and understanding that translates into an effective pharmacy service
This month we are introducing a new column called Pipeline, and you will find it near the top of the centre column of the i2P home page.

Columns

Rollo Manning: Pharma-Goss | open full screen

John Dunlop : Inside NZ | open full screen

Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch | open full screen

Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus | open full screen

Harvey Mackay: Strategic Thinking | open full screen

Mark Neuenschwander: I`ve been thinking about... | open full screen

Pharma News

Peter Jackson: Through the Pfizer Looking-Glass | open full screen

Health Politics

Staff Writer: Health reform in jeopardy | open full screen

Climate Change

Staff Writer: Zero Carbon Australia plan, revisited | open full screen

Staff Writer: We need concrete answers to climate change effects | open full screen

Staff Writer: Wind and waves growing across globe | open full screen

Staff Writer: Home Farmer Social Network | open full screen

EPublications

Click here for a list of epublications

Colloidal Silver Tongued Devil

Loretta Marron BSc

articles by this author...

From a Skeptics Perspective: Loretta Marron, a science graduate with a business background, was Australian Skeptic of the Year for 2007.
She edits the website www.healthinformation.com.au.

“It’s stinks when he uses it and then he leaves the darn contraption on the top of my fridge!”; so complained a friend of mine. She was talking about a generator that her husband owned which he was using to make his own colloidal silver.
He was quick to defend his recent purchase and he then went on at length to proclaim the benefits of this foul smelling not-so natural remedy.
Despite his enthusiastic anecdotes of the product, several authorities are cautioning against it.
So what is it and what problems is it causing?

open this article full screen

Some products containing silver seem to have some evidence of therapeutic benefits. Biomaterials releasing silver (Ag) have an ability to inhibit pathogenic bacteria including the antibiotic-resistant strains of the nasty bugs. There have been some studies done on comparing silver to other products but these have come out in favour of antibiotics. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved the use of a range of different silver-impregnated wound dressings and here in Australia they continue to be sold in some pharmacies .

Colloidal silver is a liquid suspension of microscopic silver particles and it is permitted for sale in Australia as a water purifier. It has a history of being used as an internal medication to treat a variety of diseases. With the development of antibiotics in the 1940’s it was largely discontinued, but in the 1990’s it again reappeared on the market place as an alternative medicine. I

A December 2010 article in Choice named it in the top ten potentially dangerous supplements and alternative medicines. Despite their findings, it continues to be widely promoted, especially on-line, as a therapeutic product. It is used as a topical spray where the sponsor claims it can help with a wide range of skin conditions including acne, burns, cuts, dandruff, dermatitis, gangrene, Psoriasis, Tinea and to prevent Golden Staph. Of greater concern, is that many consumers are taking it orally as a treatment for a wide range of health conditions that include Asthma, Bali Belly, bladder infections, diarrhoea, food poisoning, immune system support, Ross River Fever, toothache, Chronic Fatigue and HIV/Aids. Promoted on over 70 websites, for those sponsors who sell these products, business is booming.

Formed in 1970, and composed of independent medical experts, the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (ADRAC) was a subcommittee of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC) which was set up to give advice to the TGA on the safety of medicines. ADEC received a number of reports of adverse medicine events for people who had ingested home made colloidal silver. This included a number of cases of Argyria , an irreversible, generalized blue-grey discoloration of the subepithelial layer of skin and which may lead to the entire skin, deep tissues, mucous membranes, nails, conjunctiva, cornea and lens to become affected. M ADEC was replaced in 2010 by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medicines (ACSOM)

There is a lack of evidence to support any claims made for any therapeutic benefits for the product. By 1998, the Complementary Medicines Evaluation Committee had become aware of the potential toxicity to consumers, and they recommended that the TGA investigate the availability of colloidal silver products. However, because it had a role in water purification, it was not until December 2001, when the Order that excluded the product was amended, that the TGA was able to take action against the sponsors of colloidal silver who were making therapeutic claims. The TGA considered that “the risk to consumers of silver toxicity outweighs the value of trying an unsubstantiated treatment, and bacterial resistance to silver can occur” and that “efforts should be made to curb the illegal availability of colloidal silver products, which is a significant public health issue.”

In 2002, SBA Amalgamated, an Australian manufacturer of precious metal alloys, advertised the machines in their catalogue but denied they were selling the machines, costing $150 per unit, on a “commercial basis”. While the TGA can investigate the promotion of colloidal silver, the generators are currently exempt from regulation and therefore remain available in Australia. A GOOGLE of these devices resulted in over 300 website links.

While complaints have been upheld against the Sponsors of colloidal silver, which have included retractions, a number of well known suppliers and high profile complementary medicine companies and pharmacists, continue to promote it through their websites.