Imagine this scenario…you go to the doctor, and she writes you a prescription for a medication. Would you feel comfortable telling her, “that’s ok Doc, save the paper, I’m just going to make it at home myself”? Most would not feel confident doing this because we know that some things in life are best left to professionals with the right equipment and the right training.
Not to be misconstrued as medications, but dietary supplements are only as safe*, pure and effective* as the purity of the ingredients used, the quality standards for processing and testing followed, and the secure packaging and consideration of potency expiration of the product.
While it sounds like something easy to do, (it’s just water, silver and electricity, right?), creating your own silver using a colloidal silver generator at home has risks that are often misunderstood and overlooked. If you’re considering making your own silver at home please keep these things in mind:
1. Purity Starts With “W” for Water: Impurities in tap water eliminate silver’s benefits and raise safety issues
Minerals in tap water, such as those that make up naturally “hard” water, can react with colloidal silver and cause the silver particles to clump together, or aggregate, and settle out of the liquid. Worse yet, the surface area required for conversion to bioactive silver is greatly reduced, rendering the homemade silver almost completely ineffective*.
Even distilled water bought from the store can have plastics and other impurities leaching into the water before you buy it. Only when the purity of the water is controlled precisely every single time can one begin to know how much silver is going into the water after a specific amount of current and time has passed through a generator.
2. Accurately Measuring Concentration
There is no effective way to measure silver concentration outside of a validated and qualified laboratory setting. (TDS meters do NOT measure silver!) This is the biggest concern. The World Health Organization and the US EPA issued a maximum safety limit of silver consumption per day to 350 micrograms for an average 70 kg adult. Without chemical analysis equipment that specifically measures silver concentration, there is no way to know how much silver is being consumed.
“TDS” meters, or total dissolved solids meters, do not measure the silver concentration specifically. Instead, they measure the electrical conductivity of the solution, which tells the approximate amount of ALL charged ions in the water, and uses mathematical assumptions to calculate the concentration of the total of all dissolved solids. One can even add sodium chloride table salt to water and get a higher “ppm” reading on their TDS meter.
3. Controlling Concentration
Without a way to measure how much silver actually ended up in the product, it’s impossible to know how much silver one is ingesting.
Silver generator companies claim you can control how much silver is put into water. This is only true when you have precise control over the water. Outside of a precisely controlled laboratory or manufacturing environment that continuously tests its water quality, and filtration processes, this is impossible to achieve consistently with every batch.
Controlling the concentration of silver added is more complex than just how much current one is passing and for how long. Side reactions can take place with the water impurities discussed above, and in some cases failure to appropriately control water chemistries can cause the generator to break apart the water molecules instead of the silver electrodes. If this is making your head spin, that’s a good reminder why it might be best to leave it to the experts!
4. Particle Size Matters:
The bioactive form of silver is the positively charged form. In order for colloidal silver particles to be effective*, they must be converted into the bioactive form, which can only take place on the surface of the particle. This means that the smallest particle size results in the greatest bio-activity. Particle size analysis is also an important tool in characterizing a wide range of final-product performance factors. It’s virtually impossible to verify particle size without a Transmission Electron Microscope.
It’s important to know that particle size not only has a direct correlation to efficacy*, but also to safety*! The body must excrete any silver that it can’t use. Since it can only use what’s on the surface of a particle, then it has to excrete the rest as waste. Think of it as using the outside of a large onion, but having to throw the rest of the layers away, versus using several small onions in their entirety. It is when this waste overwhelms the body that toxicity can be reached (see #6 below).
5. It’s Electric!
Passing large amounts of current through water can lead to electrocution hazards. While this may sound obvious, there are safety hazards when passing current through water. Without proper engineering controls and backup systems for if and when those controls fail, potentially catastrophic consequences could occur if somebody were to come into contact with energized silver metal electrodes, or the solutions themselves, when the generator is turned on.
6. Don’t be Blue
Uncontrolled high concentrations and particle size (leading to large particles) of silver can lead to hazardous, toxic situations. Homemade silver is the culprit that caused the “blue man” to turn his skin blue with argyria; he was taking thousands of times the WHO and EPA daily safety limits of homemade silver with unverified particle size and concentration each day for months. With silver, more is not better. One must have the bio-active form of silver to get immune support* health benefits.
In summary, take caution if you are thinking about using silver from a colloidal silver generator as detailed above. If you would rather purchase your silver supplement, Iook for products and brands that are made by professionals you can trust.
The NSF Registration mark is one sign that you’ve found a manufacturer who adheres to the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in their facility. This certification is evident of a company that has made the investment of time and money to ensure that all products they make are safe*.
Sovereign Silver® is manufactured in a NSF Certified facility, see our certificate here.
Daily Immune Support* with The Power of Silver has never been so safe* and easy.