The Third World, Dumping Ground

Once a Jamaican gets something in his head, nothing gets it out save decapitation. Currently, the usual scam jockeys are pushing colloidal silver as the great cure all for everything from diabetes to infection.

One idiot comes into the office.  He repeats whatever he was programmed to say. When I tell him that it’s rubbish, he gives me this superior smile.  There’s a kind of smile that makes me want to find a cricket bat.

He sits and looks at me as if I am ignorant, and he is the repository of all wisdom. This attitude might work when he’s dealing with those who have to take off their shoes to count over ten.   It might work when he’s talking to someone who wants to believe what he has to say.

But if you have a whole brain for yourself before he walked in, you’ll do your own research before you put that stuff in your mouth.

Colloidal silver (a colloid consisting of silver particles suspended in liquid) was used in the early 20th century, long before most common medications were discovered. The use of Colloidal Silver was discontinued in the 1940s, found to be ineffective.

The development of safer and more effective modern antibiotics contraindicated the use of this product which was more a last resort than a first response.

Since the 1990s, colloidal silver has again been marketed as an alternative medicine, often with extensive “cure-all” claims.

Colloidal silver products remain available in many countries as dietary supplements and homeopathic remedies, although they are not effective in treating any known condition.   The risk of the product is both permanent cosmetic side effects such as argyria (turning the skin blue as in in the image) and more serious ones such as allergic reactions, as well as interactions with prescription medications.

It’s kind of ridiculous to eat metal.  To eat silver.  Further, any product that is banned in 1st world countries means that it isn’t good enough or safe enough for their people, so it’s tossed into the 3rd world.

Colloidal silver has been banned throughout the European Union.  It can not be sold in any health food store or internet vendor.

This comes after the 1999 warning in the United States.

Yet…

There are still people who think it is healthy, think it can do all sorts of things, and have convinced Jamaicans how great it is.