If you put the search term ‘colloidal silver‘ into Google or eBay, you will find lots of retailers making claims of medical efficacy about an unlicensed product. This is illegal and for that reason I have reported some of them to the MHRA.
I’m convinced there are other laws being broken too and because I’m not sure of the details, I have also emailed the MHRA’s enforcement group and contacted the Food Standards Agency.
Here is what I said to casereferrals@mhra.gsi.gov.uk:
I recently heard of colloidal silver when an acquaintance bought a bottle from a local Health Food shop with the understanding that it could prevent infection when squirted into the throat. I have since come across it on several Alternative Health websites. As it is not a licensed medicine, I understand that it is an offence to sell it and claim medical efficacy. I am also not clear on the legality of selling the product at all – as a food supplement or herbal medicine (I do not believe it is regulated as either but I am not sure about this). I am concerned about people being misled with regard to supposed medical efficacy and safety of colloidal silver products – since they have not been trialled or regulated.
I have already complained to the MHRA and the Advertising Standards Authority about two online retailers (http://www.ukcolloidalsilver.co.uk/ and http://beechcroftretreats.com/93.html) for making misleading unsubstantiated claims and implications about medical efficacy of colloidal silver products. Other UK online retailers include http://www.ag4all.co.uk/, http://www.colloidalsilver4all.co.uk/, http://www.colloidalsilveronline.co.uk/index.htm and http://www.highernature.co.uk/Products/Colloidal-Silver-Spray?AgentID=422276&gclid=CKiMztvK7KgCFQUe4QodBV-HOw among many more. There are also lots of colloidal silver products available from ebay in the UK (including a ‘Medical ‘Dictionary’ and a pamphlet entitled the ‘Colloidal Silver Report’ which states in the blurb “Colloidal silver can be used internally and externally for the support and maintenance of the immune system”).
I seek clarification as to the legality of manufacturing colloidal silver and selling it (even if no medicinal claims or implications are made). I have also contacted the Food Standards Agency. I believe if a complaint was made about PayPal then it could make it very difficult for retailers to trade in the product, but since I do not know the details of the laws in question, I do not feel I am yet in a position to make such a complaint.
Any advice would be much appreciated
EDIT: MHRA Case Referrals have now forwarded this and my email to the Advertising Unit to their Borderline Department.
Josephine Jones 
Pingback: Is colloidal silver a medicine, food supplement or neither? | Josephine Jones
what a jobsworth. unlicensed people like you jobsworth who worship regulation and the government who incidentally tell you to drink sodium flouride for your teeth when there is no evidence it helps and has the oposite effect on gums(destroys them) when in fact it also gives you bone cancer and a whole host of disease but its ok cos its regulated gov. you make me sick you government parasite how much are the mainstream medical companies one of whom admits only 30% of their drugs work paying you dear for this BS
I suppose the government is also responsible for removing all the punctuation and capital letters from your post, in a bid to discredit you?
Are capital letters and punctuation necessary for you to understand the point John Smith is making?
john smith,
Thank you for your interest in my blog. I wish to confirm that the mainstream medical companies are paying me at an hourly rate of £0.00.
I aim to write another piece about colloidal silver shortly, giving a bit more background and explaining the reasons for my concern. In the meantime, there is an interesting and informative article here http://nccam.nih.gov/health/silver/ which gives a good summary.
Key points include:
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not consider colloidal silver to be safe or effective for treating any disease or condition.”
“The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have taken action against a number of colloidal silver companies (including some companies that sell products over the Internet) for making drug-like claims about their products.”
“Colloidal silver can cause many side effects. One example is argyria, a bluish-gray discoloration of the body, which is not treatable or reversible.”
I hope this is useful to you.
Pingback: Colloidal Silver and the Law. A summary and update. | Josephine Jones
The NCCAM is part of the U.S Department of Health and Human Sciences so its not surprising it will discredit colloidal silvers uses as it doesnt recognise it as a valid substance to promote health,and it can not be patented to make huge profits from mass production by the Pharmaceutical industry!There is vast documentation and information about the efficacy and validity of silver and colloidal silver to help fight against all forms of bacteria,viruses fungals and parasites!Also the examples of Argyria in humans have come about by ingesting Extremely High ppm concentrations of colloidal silver often home-made and of inferior quality.How much damage is done to the human body by modern drugs as side-effects?Many more and more serious than turning a greyish-blue!
Of course many sellers of this substance are fraudulent and dangerous,but go after them not the substance,they are the ones selling a version of colloidal silver that is inferior and possibly toxic and all for the sake of profit.
I dont think Josephine is a govt hack. It just comes down to what poeple believe. In this day and age more and more people are losingtrsut in the conventional medical system specifically and in thegovet in general, so they look for alternatvies. However, thos poeple need t oremember that although they are growing in number doesn’t mean everyone else is a hack; they just believe what they are told by the authorities. The reason there is no “evidence” is becasue there is no funding or will to publicize cures that can me made at home for cheap. So unless some prof at uni is given the money to do the research the evidence will never come out. So the question is who is gonna put up that money.
I’m glad you realise I’m not a government hack.
I have a science background. My beliefs are based on evidence. Before antibiotics were developed and manufactured on a large scale, colloidal silver was sometimes used as an antimicrobial agent. There isn’t plenty of evidence on colloidal silver – that it isn’t very effective as an antimicrobial and that it has considerable side effects, some of them serious. There is no evidence that it is effective for anything else. Do a bit of online searching and you will find that people are advertising colloidal silver as a cure for pretty much any condition you care to name, some of which are life threatening, some of which are easily treatable with conventional medicine, some of which will get better on their own. As I said, any condition you care to name.
This Big Pharma conspiracy theory you allude to can do a lot of harm – it can lead people to mistrust their doctors. It can lead people to deny themselves effective treatment. It can make desperately ill people vulnerable to opportunist quacks.
It also seems completely ludicrous from where I’m standing. I live in the UK, where we have a publicly funded health system and where we don’t generally have to pay for medical treatment.
When I see these claims about colloidal silver, my reaction is “Yes. but…”
Silver may have some anti-microbial properties, but at what cost? Before the advent of antibiotics, the primary treatment for syphilis was Arsenic. Arsenic was somewhat effective, but the cost was the patient was exposed to poison. Colloidal silver has no scientific evidence of being effective for treating viruses or funguses when taken orally. There are documented side effects like argyria, as well as concerns about the dangers of nano particles.
The conspiracy theorists will never consider alternate opinions, much less science, but these treatment are unregulated, and vary widely in quality and composition. That alone should worry people.
The drug companies in the UK are private entities, Bayer and Glaxo are huge profit driven machines – they make profit on products they can patent – Bayer for example – Cannabis = illegal – Sativex = legal.
I live in the UK and work for the NHS as a BMS at Leeds general infirmary. The “pharmaconspiracy” is real – if not a little blown out of proportion.
I love colloidal silver. Gets rid of cold sores, boils and flus/ colds etc . If you havnt used it , then you wont know . I do . FDA are crooks btw
You have your own mind, if you choose to believe one persons evidence over anothers, thats your choice, but dont try and take away another persons right to choose, we dont all need to be nannied, Ones own bias will find evidence to back up there own opinion one way or the other, theres more than enough information out there for you to do this, but shouldnt we be free to make that choice for ourselves rather than somone else making that choice for us.jj I think, might i suggest, you should study the evidence in a little more depth than you have, you do come across as someone just mindlessly repeating what you have been told as opposed to having drawn any real conclusions you may of reached by yourself.dont play lipservice unless your in advertising or you just sound like somone who has overdosed on it. 😉
As a side note im 38yrs old and in all my experiences with various g.p.s specialists etc over the years they have never helped cure a single thing, but i did notice they would try to prescribe, in certain instances, things that where wholey inappropriate and highly addictive, which begged the question why? thats just been my experience.
To all good health, however you get there.
To add to this debate, firstly: it would be a great help if all posters would put in proper punctuation and spelling, etc. This means people pay attention to what you are writing and don’t dismiss you as a raving looney:)
Secondly, it simply isn’t true about the evidence on colloidal silver when you write:
“There isn’t plenty of evidence on colloidal silver – that it isn’t very effective as an antimicrobial and that it has considerable side effects, some of them serious. There is no evidence that it is effective for anything else.”
Not only was silver used by the mainstream medical establishment for many years, it still is on external applications for an anti-microbial purpose. A huge number of companies, including the major pharmas, use it in various antimicrobial applications, (plasters, cleaning surgery theatres, gym clothes, sideboard cloths,) so to say it doesn’t work makes everyone look dumb – including the big pharmas.
To also say we should not be ingesting metals does not make sense either. Dentists put mercury in the mouth and pharmas put it in vaccinations. Surely this is the definition of ingestion? Iron is another metal we regularly ingest (along with dozens of others.)
So, we have established that a: silver is anti-microbial, based on use of big pharmas etc in an external way. b. silver is a metal that is often ingested by people as are many other metals.
Now. You say there is a lot of evidence showing the terrible side-effects – let’s see it then shall we? Where are all these suffering blue people?
Why not address the evidence of people’s testimonials on not-for-profit sites like http://www.earth-clinic.com? I say let people without profit motive or interest in selling anything speak the results for themselves. (www.earth-clinic is not selling anything and many posters are anonymous.)
Lastly, there are actually many studies – double blind clinically controlled – done on silver’s effectiveness. Largely they have been done in other countries that ‘mainstream science’ looks ‘down on’ (infer racism), eg., China, Brazil, Russia, etc. Look them up please with some real research.
In the meantime, it is not very responsible to misinform and scare people about remedies that people have used for thousands of years that might actually help them. The self-prescription of alternative remedies has ‘harmed’ less people in thousands of years than aspirin and antibiotics have in the last 50 years – suicides and MRSA are 2 examples.
Your trust of the establishment and a few scare stories (when silver is an effective competitor with antibiotics and unregulatable as you can make it yourself) is in this case, blind. Heaven forbid people should chance upon cheap medicine they can make themselves. It has to come in a packet with a £5 price for us to feel comfortable. Talk about giving your power away.
The expression ‘born with a silver spoon in his mouth’ should give us all food for thought. Is that only referring to the financial value of silver or indeed, the medical? Could the two even be linked… now there’s a thought…
And your actual evidence for any of that is, what exactly?
You mention studies – where are they? Plenty of great research happens overseas & is readily available via PubMed….so where is it exactly for the use of Silver?
Josephine Jones, who exactly are you? What are your medical and scientific qualifications and who or what gives you the right decide on what everyone else may or may not recourse to in pursuit of good health for themselves and their families? I will not comment on what your motives might be, but your report is unbalanced and an insult to the intelligence to every thinking individual. Please do some research the next time you think to write a post of this nature.
Hi Velma, thanks for your comment.
I’m sorry there isn’t a lot of information on my About page at the moment, but it will soon be updated. But to be fair, it isn’t of any relevance who I am or what my qualifications are. I don’t have the right to decide whether a medicine such as colloidal silver should be licensed (for if it’s presented as being able to treat, cure or prevent disease then that’s what it is). Anyone wishing to sell and advertise such a product would need to provide evidence that the benefits outweigh the harms. They would do this using evidence from clinical trials. If you wish to learn more about this, I recommend the Making Sense of Drug Safety Science guide produced by Liverpool University’s MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science and Sense About Science, as discussed in this post: https://josephinejones.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/making-sense-of-side-effects/
And if anyone chooses to put their health at risk by making their own medicines at home, there’s not a great deal I can do about it, other than to say that I think that is unwise. It isn’t sensible to take advice from conspiracy theorist cranks rather than from health professionals.
Although you don’t wish to comment on my motives, I will. Colloidal silver does more harm than good. Broadly speaking, it is illegal to sell and advertise it, but that it is still widely available. Because authorities such as the MHRA and Trading Standards can be slow to take effective action and because people don’t realise it is (broadly speaking) illegal, you do sometimes see it appearing on the shelves of health food shops, alongside false and misleading medical claims. Innocent members of the public are not only wasting their money on this for no demonstrable benefit, but also putting their health at risk. I find it hard to sit back and watch that happen.
And in what way is my report unbalanced? I was merely stating the unpleasant facts as I saw them at the time, and it wasn’t intended to be a general feature on colloidal silver. If that’s what you’re looking for, you may be interested in my later post, summarising the issues: https://josephinejones.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/colloidal-silver-and-the-law-a-summary-and-update/
Wow,i bought a bottle of colloidal silver and did research it thoroughly.
I have been in several severe vehicle accidents ,with massive blood transfusions. I have had two open heart surgeries. I purchased the colloidal silver to augment all the prescription drugs I was being given. The day after buying I began to have an abscessed tooth. I applied the colloidal siver,instant relief and next day it was gone. I had a touch of athletes foot on my right toes,applied the colloidal and gone,has not come back as it has with antifungal sprays. I feel better and now have my own generator. I read the studies done by several countries including a college in America. They find no ill ,only positive from their lab test on animals! It seems colloidal silver was the antibiotic of choice for hundreds of years until around 1940 when penicillin was discovered. Brigham Young University added when it is,used in conjunction with antibiotics,it made the drugs more potent;).
as to Big Pharma,are you meaning the ones like Bayer who sold tainted ,with the aids virus, blood products to hemophiliacs in France and Germany ? Knowing they were tainted with the aids virus ? You trust their diagnosis about anything ? How quaintly naïve you must be;).
I plan on promoting, and sharing my colloidal experience with like people who the medical profession has all but gave up on :).
Ewe just keep on keepin’ on and I pray no dis-ease or sickness finds ewe wanting a cure for something that Big Pharma can not cure but will radiate, stuff you full of expensive drugs, that do not seem to quite work and even cut things off of you; I bet you will be ecstatic at the opportunity to try folk remedies then;).
I would also remind you what it says on a Doctors certificate hanging in their office,in particular the “License to PRACTICE medicine “;).
Silver has been utilised for thousands of years..for healing and purifying purposes…the side effect you stated was one off case, after years of ingesting and not strictly adhering to the ‘Farady Process’. The gentleman in question still takes it to this day…as he stated ‘I’d rather be blue and healthy’
I caught a nasty MRSA infection, manafesting in nasty boils and a large skin laceration…treated myself with colloidal silver both topically and orally. I cured myself without taking any chemicals and my skin laceration healed up without leaving any long terms marks on my skin. That was nearly 3 years ago, I take Colloidal Silver on a regular basis and would like to report as of today that my skin has no discolouration and I am still fit and healthy.
PLEASE JOSEPHINE SMITH, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL, BUT QUITE HONESTLY YOU REALLY DO NOT KNOW ENOUGH, BECAUSE IF YOU DID YOU WOULD BE SALUTING THIS PRODUCT, TRUST ME!!!!!
Colloidal silver is a great example of a particular form of quackery. Silver is antimicrobial and has some potential therapeutic uses, and this is taken by advocates as validating every claim made for it, however outlandish. In reality most of the claims made for colloidal silver are abject no sense, which is why it is alternative: if it worked, there is no remotely plausible reason why it would not be used by doctors.
Guy with all due respect…the are two reasons why this is not prescribed by doctors.. Simply because silver cannot be patented, therefore the Big Pharmas..cannot corner the marketplace and make loads of money…it’s also too effective..and they really don’t want us getting better..they want us dependent on their chemicals…please for your own and your families sake research the corruption our planet is under at the moment..take care…x
Josephine try doing a little research at any , all hospitals particularly the burn units and house keeping .You will fing both departments use colloidal silver in the burn units it is an external patch solution and the claims are it fights infection and doubles the speed of heal time . The use in house keeping is a spray solution and is used on walls counters and floors to kill infectious bacteria such as staff and any bacteria and infectious disease .
I find it laughable that you are not aware of these uses at hospitols 😉 , but when you’ve been given what you are to discredit I am sure the good points and the use of by big pharma companies would rather not disclose they do sell it to hospitols and doctors ;).
Those are not the claims JJ is addressing. Invoking these claims to support the fanciful nonsense promoted by advocates of colloidal silver would, of course, be grossly misleading and I am sure you would not do that.
Mr. Chapman sir , I was indeed responding to the pharmaceutical companies who claim it has no use and blah , blah , blah …
Yet they manufacture and sell colloidal silver claiming it does fight infectious bacteria and viruses , not to mention it speeds up the heal time of burns . They also market colloidal silver as a house keeping disinfectant that does not leave a harmful chemical residue . You sir , can not have it both ways . Not to mention also that bacteria and viruses do not build a resistance to the colloidal silver . Roman soldiers had silver powder for battlefield wounds .
I own a couple of patents , in another field and have personally been exposed as to how the deep pocket big companies do , to discourage the little guy that is trying to market their product . They will tie you up and starve you down the whole time looking for the way to rob you of your idea patented or not ;). My experience with the big companies is they are flat out thieves and , bring only the methods to rob you of your patents . I have quit inventing products because I just can not stand to sit at a table with these lying thieving bass turds anymore ! I can no longer hide my disdain for their inhuman acts against not only us , but our children too .
How do you claim something is harmful while at the same time manufacturing and selling it as a great addition to the war on germs ?
You would have me succumb to the thought that big pharma is more qualified to manufacture this product than I am ? I , of course would point to the Bayer pharmaceutical company that upon discovering their blood products were tainted with the aids virus , and could not be sold in America . They then did the math and sold the tainted products to France and Germany . The Bayer pharmaceutical company compared the profits versus the fine and found they would still make a hefty profit after paying the fine for infecting people with the aids virus and you would have me to believe these sick bass turds are more capable of manufacturing colloidal silver for human use than I am ! Yeah right ;).
I have personally seen and used this product on me , my wife and our pets . A terminally ill person was prescribed colloidal silver , by her physician and I gave her a bottle of mine , at no cost to her and even got to hang out and listen to her story of life . An acquaintance of mine brought his pup to our house during a visit . I noticed the pup was not as active as a pup would normally be and upon looking him over realized he had parvo . He was pretty far gone and I swabbed his gums with colloidal silver 7 ppm and sent some home .He is a fine looking young male dog and completely cured of the parvo .
I did not appreciate the guy bringing the sick pup over as it put my dog at risk , but our Chihuahua/pit dog has been on the colloidal since day one of her coming to stay with us ;).
I would more appreciate Ms. Jones perhaps doing a investigative report on the Monsanto GMO products , now that is terrorism at it’s finest against We the people , you , I and Ms, Jones being some of the ones who make up the ” We” in We the people !
You have a nice day sir and if you get to feeling poorly , get yourself to the store and buy some colloidal silver . It will only help and just might save you bunches of money .
pearler ,
Bleach kills bacteria. I don’t recommend you drink it (though the “alternative” community do). The way colloidal silver is promoted by the alternative community is, bluntly, fraudulent.
I have used colloidal silver recently with amazing results. I had a rumbling gum infection which I have blasted with antibiotics with no effect except for the bouts of thrush I always get with them. Then I discovered the colloidal silver which I sprayed on my gums every night. 4 days later there is no pain in my gum and my arthritic toe is no longer painful (I don’t know if the toe is anything to do with it, but it’s a bit coincidental seeing as the toe has been hurting for 2 years!). I also give it to my dog and the big lump on her jaw has now completely gone. My brother used it on his fungal toe and it’s completely healed. My friend used it on her seemingly permanent ulcer which her dentist had thought should be removed surgically. It’s now gone for good. No adverse effects to report. Just wanted to share my own experience. Also, people should research the wonderful results found by the Independent Cancer Research Foundation in America (http://www.new-cancer-treatments.org/) and HIV clinics in Scandinavia are having great success with silver and finding many of their patients come off their official drugs completely. We need to ask why there is no money being spent on proper research for this product rather than just spouting out the “official” line that it is harmful when there is so much evidence to the contrary and very little evidence of actual harm.
I had such great experiences with CS than when my husband was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 I wanted him to drink CS in vast quantities on a daily basis, but the only way we could afford it was to produce our own, hence http://www.ag4all.co.uk BTW following surgery, chemo and radiotherapy, and 5 years of drugs he’s fine, still drinking CS and he’s definitely not blue!!!
You obviously work for the Government… Your argument is way too unbalanced, and ive seen and read loads of medical papers that not only proves CS works as stated, but it wipes the floor with anti-biotics…
keep taking the blood money
No call for josephine jones dairy in favour with MHRA – FDA to injust presuding them to excempt any herbal supplement that does bodies more good than harm to be classified as dam medincines wasting tax payers time who will see increase in criminal records not enough jail beds like hospital beds all falling ill without legalising reform only out on market lost time one year when CBD OIL cannobidal came available like colloidal sliver threatening peoples freedom choose gods nature leafs drops capsules explain your radom act unacceptable inapprobiate hate more like targeting poor rich depend on natures remedies not prescribed pharmacutial danger drugs not tested on humans. We will fight all way or demand world world begin feel the world needs end or regulate ban mhra fda classifying herbal plants as class b class c its wrong. What next cod liver oil or st johns wort health is important regulate gym users botox users face lift mircula cures ban them on mhra putting lives at risk & anti-depressant pharmacutial firms. Save our Supplements CBD non psychotic breach of conduct ban any you jones and mhra can’t say what people pay we’ll take them in eyes of your own law take them away like undercovet agents not right..
Firstly it’s sold in many health shops world wide Holland and Barrett for one and has been used Since the 1700s and before In Rome and likely in Iraq hence why the Baghdad battery’s we’re actually invented to make it. It’s been used by the military as an Ariel dispersant in the event of a biological localised attack to eliminate the Virus in the air. Jate and other military test agencies around the world know how good it is and bio available in the body also. So when it’s made correctly using pure distilled water and pure silver it’s 100% safe to consume and nebulise see silver lungs .com
Hope this helps and the FDA has approved its use as a body or oral sanitiser and it’s not easy for them to approve it for more than this as People make it and it isn’t easy taxed or checked then. Buying a TDS meter will help you determine its parts per million ratio and the liquid should be clear below 15ppm and can be amber above 15ppm. If the solution is make any other way then it simply is not silver colloid and should be avoided.
Hope this helps
When nebuliser it does eliminate viruses in the lungs very fast within 3 to 5 minutes and carries on working in the bloodstream.