Although the benefits of silver have been widely discussed in scientific literature and its historical use dates back thousands of years, you may wonder why Sovereign Silver® doesn’t make bold claims like some of our competitors. You may see that some other colloidal silver manufacturers issue unauthorized statements about their product curing cancer, preventing colds, the flu as well as other illnesses. So why don’t we do the same?
Simply put… we’d be breaking the law.
Since 2005, the Sovereign Silver® brand has been the #1 selling silver supplement for immune support* in North America and our products sell more than all of the other silver products combined. With great success comes great responsibility. We have a responsibility to provide a safe* product and to comply with the laws that govern us so that consumers continue to have access to our products.
In the U.S., dietary supplements are regulated by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). DSHEA defines a dietary supplement as a product (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin; a mineral; an herb or other botanical; an amino acid; a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract; that is intended for ingestion and that is labeled as a dietary supplement.
Dietary supplements may not be presented as drugs. As a general rule for supplements, the product may not assert or even suggest that it treats, cures, prevents or mitigates any disease. That’s why you will always see the asterisk (* ) symbol in our content linking to the disclaimer: “*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
If the FDA deems that a manufacturer has broken this rule, it can force the company into a market withdrawal (recall) among other enforcement actions conjointly with the FTC or even the attorney general…. This could put the entire category at risk, not just one manufacturer’s products!
Supplement companies that do make illegal and fraudulent claims might be trying to make a quick buck before they disappear, or they might be small enough where they think they can fly under the FDA’s radar. Either way, they are taking a risk by breaking the law. Their actions are also endangering the legitimacy of other supplement companies that operate legally. Regulators have tried to remove supplements in the past from store shelves. In a way, DSHEA saved the supplement industry from extinction and was only enacted after citizens demanded their right to natural medicines.
The legality of this subject gets quite complicated, but our supplements are marketed under the general structure/function claim of “Immune Support*”. Yes, that limits a great deal on what we can say, however that’s the law and we will always be in full compliance. For more information, please see our previous article What We Can/Can’t Say… and Why.
We sincerely understand the frustration people have when they ask if our product can treat certain afflictions such as infection, flu, pink eye, IBS, etc., and we do not answer them. Because we are the #1 silver brand on the market, and because so many people swear by our products, we refuse to risk our good name and make illegal statements that could shut us down. We always want to be there for the people that need our products the most.
It isn’t that we are hiding something; we legally cannot address these issues. Nor does it mean the companies that do make these claims have a superior product; it just means that they are way out of compliance with the regulations set by FDA for the dietary supplement industry and the terms of DSHEA.
On the subject of being a superior product, Sovereign Silver is still family owned and leads the industry in the research and development of Mineral Hydrosol Technology, the ultimate refinement of colloidal products. We operate out of our own custom, state-of-the-art GMP certified facility and laboratories, designed for the rigorous testing that every batch of product must go through before being released to the public. Our mission continues to be the same since we were founded in 1999, and that is to produce the finest mineral hydrosols as the first line of defense in the quest for health sovereignty.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Customer Care Team here or call us 8:30 am – 5:30 pm EST Monday through Friday at 1 888-328-8840 for additional information or discussion.