If you have ever wondered whether the public are really aware of any nano products then you might be interested in a little advice which my friend and colleague Vicki Stone received from her hairdresser at lunch time today!
After listening to Vicki complaining about the colds she’d had this winter, her hairdresser advised her to take colloidal (nano) silver. Her hairdresser’s friend has been feeding it to her little boy every day for the last few weeks, ‘it’s great he hasn’t had any colds at all since he started to take it’. He takes 5 ml daily. They bought it from the internet http://www.colloidalsilver.com/ . Her chiropractor originally advised the mother to start taking it!
Well I don’t know if colloidal silver can prevent the common cold. I do know that use of this material seems to be growing rapidly in all sorts of applications from food supplements to wound dressings and even to odour free socks. And many of these applications will result in direct exposure of consumers to free silver nanoparticles. This despite the fact that that the US National Institutes of Health National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) have said;
“Animal studies have shown that silver builds up in the tissues of the body. In humans, buildup of silver from colloidal silver can lead to a side effect called argyria. It causes a bluish-gray discoloration of the skin, other organs, deep tissues, nails, and gums. Other side effects from using colloidal silver products may include neurologic problems (such as seizures), kidney damage, stomach distress, headaches, fatigue, and skin irritation.” http://nccam.nih.gov/health/alerts/silver/#d
As to the apparent beneficial effects, NCCAM say that claims made about the effectiveness of colloidal silver products for numerous diseases are unsupported scientifically. The FDA issued a ruling in 1999 that no products containing colloidal silver are generally recognized as “safe and effective”. The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have sent warning letters to the operators of many Web sites that market colloidal silver with drug-like claims (i.e., that their product diagnoses, treats, cures, or prevents disease).
In the US, manufacturers of dietary supplements, unlike manufacturers of drugs, do not have to prove their product's safety and effectiveness to the FDA before it is marketed. If the product is found to be unsafe after it is marketed, the FDA can take certain actions, such as removing it from the marketplace. Well guess what. The regulations ain’t working! Its here, its nano and its being given to 5 year old boys in Edinburgh.
Now who knows how today’s nano-silver compares with yesterdays colloidal silver but my guess would be smaller, smarter and more biologically active! Regulators, please take note!