No silver bullet for SARS

"With the spread of the SARS virus, it makes sense to use colloidal silver regularly as a preventive and immune system booster." So says the Web site of Elixa Ltd., one of a number of sellers touting the ability of colloidal silver--a suspension of tiny silver particles in liquid--to prevent or treat severe acute respiratory syndrome, the deadly pneumonia-like illness that has killed hundreds of people worldwide. At another Web site, the authoritative-sounding SARS Research Labs advises customers to pour Silver Aromatic Respiratory Solution (included in the SARS Travel Kit, $59.99) "into hot water and breathe moist silver laden vapors right onto the lung surface where the pathogens have lodged." A Web site run by the DynaMax Science Research Co. offers SARS protection in the form of a colloidal-silver generator ($89.95) that you use to create your own silver solution to ingest.

Despite the health claims, ingesting or inhaling silver is potentially toxic and won’t keep you from getting SARS or any other virus. "There’s certainly no data that have shown silver to prevent viruses from invading your body," says Irwin Berlin, M.D., chief of pulmonary critical care at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, N.Y., and an expert on SARS. While silver may have mild antiseptic powers, it’s too weak to be effective against most bacteria or viruses. And even if silver could somehow boost your immunity (which it can’t), it probably wouldn’t help. As Berlin notes, SARS appears to infect healthy people as readily as it does those with compromised immunity.

Colloidal silver has been advertised as an anthrax preventive; a treatment for allergies, arthritis, cancer, and diabetes; and a nutritional supplement for pregnant women. That last claim is particularly disturbing because research has linked increased blood levels of silver to birth defects. Other toxic effects from silver ingestion include permanent bluish discoloration of nails, skin, and whites of the eyes and, in severe cases, organ damage and neurological disorders. The mineral may also interfere with certain medications. As we went to press, the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission had announced a joint crackdown on Internet marketers of "bogus SARS protection products," including colloidal-silver supplements.

from Consumer Reports magazine, July 2003 issue.