Re-discovered by western scientists in the late 1800s, and what has been know for thousands of years, Silver is a powerful germ fighter. By the mid-1900s there were almost 50 different commonly used medicinal silver compounds; and now, technology has allowed Silver to be even more effective by being produced through electrolysis, without the use of a chemical catalyst.
Silver did have some negative publicity regarding overuse of certain types of protein-bound silver compounds that caused a discoloration of the skin called "argyria" caused by improperly prepared and unstable colloidal silver solutions.
New knowledge of body chemistry gave rise to many applications for colloidal disinfectants and medicines, and gained favor for on-going research, click here for an article released by the LA Times regarding Silver's increase in attention for medicinal uses. Diluted Silver Nitrate is still commonly used in mainstream medicine for newborn babies' eyes to help protect from infections, and a Silver-Based salve is commonly used on burn victims to help prevent infections. Silver-infused bandages have recently been approved by the FDA. Silver is even used for water purification filters and tablets to prevent growth of algae and bacteria, and used in air filters to fight against airborne toxins and other industrial poisons.
Silver Sulphadiazine is now used in a large majority of Burn Centers in America, and has also been used to treat cholera, malaria and syphilis. It also stops the herpes virus, which is responsible for cold sores, shingles and worse!
Molecula Silver is Different than a Colloidal Silver
The term "colloid" means "particles in suspension". Molecula Silver contains up to 10 PPM (10mg per liter) but is mostly Silver ions, not Silver particles, so is is technically more of a Silver Solution, than a Silver Colloid. Most Colloidal Silver being produced has a higher ppm, but the particles are too large to be of any value and the Silver ends up being stored in the body tissues.
S.E. Foran, Therapeutic Properties of Silver: A Historic and Technical Review, Quanta, January 2009 states, "...Silver (solutions) must have a low silver concentration and contain small silver particles that are charged (ions) for it to produce the most beneficial effects."
Many people believe that 'ppm' (parts per million) somehow designates the strength, or the microbial killing power, of silver solutions. Others believe it represents the number of silver particles in a certain volume of water. By definition 1 ppm of silver is one milligram of silver deposited in one liter of water (1,000 ml), otherwise designated as 1 mg/l. So it is just a measurement of the overall weight of the silver in a liter of water, not the number of silver particles.
Why is this so important to understand? Because the actual weight (ppm) of silver in a silver solution has very little bearing on its effectiveness. Instead, it is how finely divided the total silver content is that ultimately determines its effectiveness. Here's why...
An 'American Eagle' silver dollar weighs about an ounce (about 28,349 milligrams). In a liter of water, that would be 28,349 ppm. If you dropped this silver dollar into a one liter of water and drank it, swallowing the silver dollar along with the water, it would have very little therapeutic value. Because it is one whole piece rather than being finely divided into many thousands or even millions of sub-microscopic pieces, it will not be absorbed into the body's cells, tissues and organs and therefore only a comparatively miniscule opportunity to kill pathogens.
But what is you took even a fraction of that ounce of silver, and finely divided it into thousands of silver particles? For Example: take 1 milligram of silver and divide it into 500,000 miniscule particles... Since it only takes one particle of silver to disable one pathogen, you would now have 500,000 different opportunities to attack pathogens.
Molecula Silver is 10mg per liter - referenced at 2000 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), and the largest particle is 0.062nm (nanometers) and was given an LD-50 rating as "non-toxic" by Consumer Labs.
To help put this in perspective - a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide, and a typical red blood cells is only about 7,000 nanometers wide. Most bacteria are between 4,000 and 15,000 nanometers wide; and a virus can be as small as 10 nanometers.
Here is a great research article published by the Journal of NanoBioTechnology that explores how Silver Ions work against many pathogens (bacteria, viruses, etc...)