Colloidal silver, a liquid suspension of the metal silver, is currently a hot topic in the world of medicine. While alternative medicine praises its use as an antibiotic, mainstream medicine considers it somewhat of a poison. But colloidal silver is neither a poison nor a panacea: It is a safe and proven topical antibiotic that may cautiously be used internally.

In the nineteenth century, colloidal silver -- also known as Argentum colloidale, Argentum crede and collargolum -- was a prominent treatment for everything from colds to skin infections. In the 1940s, the FDA began its decades-long oppression of medicinal silver under the guise that it was unsafe; however, in reality, the FDA banned silver because of the threat it poses to the antibiotics industry, rather than any threat it poses for your body. If you'd like to learn more about the FDA's campaign against silver, be sure to download the Health Ranger's Commentary on Curad bandages made with silver. In his commentary, he not only praises Curad's new bandages, but also details how astounding their FDA approval is, given the FDA's historical campaign against the medicinal use of silver.

As you can see from Curad's new bandages, colloidal silver is a safe and effective topical method to fight infections. As Phyllis A. Balch and Dr. James F. Balch write in Prescription for Nutritional Healing, colloidal silver can safely and inexpensively protect you from infection in a wide variety of ways: "Topically, it can be used to fight fungal infections of the skin or nails and to promote the healing of burns, wounds, cuts, rashes, and sunburn. It can be used on toothaches and mouth sores, as eye drops and as a gargle to fight tooth decay and bad breath. It can also be used as sterilizer and can even be sprayed on air-conditioning filters and air ducts and vents to prevent germs from growing." In addition to those found in air conditioning vents, germs make many other aspects of our environment both unhealthy and bad-smelling. Colloidal silver, as a powerful antibiotic and antifungal agent, can make your environment just as healthy as it can make your body.

According to Joseph B. Marion's Anti-Aging Manual, Pierce Instruments manufactures a nylon-Silver fabric called Silvelon. They use Silvelon to make everything from odor-proof socks and shoe liners to antiseptic kitchen sponges. Of course, you can also make your own odor-proof socks by soaking regular socks in colloidal silver solution, but the choice is yours.

According to many sources, it is not dangerous to use colloidal silver internally, as long as you take it in the recommended, reasonable dosages. This means using the colloidal silver product as directed and not taking it for more than two weeks at a time, according to Janet Zand in Smart Medicine for Healthier Living. Of course, you shouldn't use just any colloidal product out there, either. In his A-List of Top Products, the Health Ranger recommends Silver 100 as the top colloidal silver product. It's safe – very safe – at only 100 silver parts per million.

"Taken internally, colloidal silver can be used to fight infection. It has been shown to be effective against more that 650 disease-causing organisms, including Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria and the fungus Candida albicans," writes Dr. James F. and Phyllis A. Balch. As you may remember from the hamburger scares of the 1990s, E. coli infections can be deadly, especially among young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. In this sense, colloidal silver is a lifesaver: When all else fails, it can beat infections presumed unbeatable. It is under these extreme conditions that patients may justifiably consider using colloidal silver internally -- but only under the direction of a qualified health practitioner such as a naturopath.

AIDS-related pneumonia due to staphylococcal, pneumocystis, streptococcal, klebsiella and fungal infections may also warrant internal use of colloidal silver. These types of pneumonia are very difficult to fight with traditional antibiotic treatment; moreover, people with weakened immune systems, such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, are especially prone to them. For a weak immune system, these types of pneumonia are sometimes unbeatable, making alternative measures a necessity. "Dr. Marchial-Vega had considerable clinical experience with a colloidal silver preparation that contains between 20 and 25 parts of silver per million parts of water. This preparation has proven effective in patients with HIV… In the hospital, the therapy is administered by a special nebulizer as well as orally," reports Dr. James Howenstine in A Physician's Guide to Natural Healing Products that Work.

You don't have to be afraid of genuine colloidal silver. There are a multitude of safe and effective colloidal silver products on the market, so be sure to research what you use before you use it and, by all means, use it as recommended on the label. As a side note, some colloidal silver companies claim that colloidal silver is an anti-cancer agent. According to Dan Labriola's Complementary Cancer Therapies, "There is no reliable human evidence that this (colloidal silver) is an effective cancer treatment." But as a broad-spectrum antibiotic, colloidal silver is well proven.