The FDA cracks down on Ebola quacks, and Mike Adams loses it

Ever since the latest outbreak of Ebola viral disease in West Africa, there has been panic that’s metastasized to the US, even though the risk of a major outbreak here is very low. Unfortunately, whenever there’s panic over a disease, whatever the disease is, there soon follows quackery in response to that panic, from quacks who are either looking to make a buck or who are true believers (or both). For instance, I’ve seen high dose vitamin C touted as an Ebola remedy. I’ve also written about deluded homeopaths claiming that homeopathy can be used to treat Ebola. One particularly deluded homeopath named Ken Oftedal even took homeopathy’s law of similars literally and recommended a homeopathic remedy for Ebola that is made using infected bodily fluids from an Ebola victim as the base remedy that is diluted homeopathically. This was a remedy that was too quacky even for a contender for the title of One Quack To Rule Them All, Mike Adams.

Speaking of Mike Adams, he was in a fine lather last night. (I know, I know, he’s always in a fine lather; the dude only has two settings when it comes to rants: 11 and off the chart.) What was he upset about? Well, I’ll let Adams tell it:

In furtherance of the medical monopoly that dominates western civilization today, the FDA issued warning letters to three companies over what they call fraudulent health claims regarding Ebola treatments.

The warning letters, viewable here, single out the Natural Solutions Foundation (Rima Laibow) and two essential oil companies "Young Living" and "dōTERRA" whose distributors, the FDA says, were making claims that their oils could treat or prevent Ebola.

The warning letters threaten all three companies with possible criminal prosecutions if they do not immediately answer the FDA and FTC with explanations of how they plan to halt the making of such claims. As of this writing, the e-commerce website of the Natural Solutions Foundation appears to have already removed any mention of Ebola.

"An FDA agent showed up at my front door on September 23, 2014, to hand deliver [highly unusual!] a Warning Letter from that agency and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advising Natural Solutions that telling the truth about Ebola, Nano Silver and CBD is, according to those agencies, against their version of the law," wrote Ralph Fucetola in this rebuttal letter entitled "We will not be suppressed!"

My first reaction was to reply to Adams, “Gee, you say that as though it were a bad thing!”

Seriously. Don’t we want the FDA to crack down on quacks selling things like essential oils or “Nano Silver” and claiming that they cure (or even just treat or prevent) Ebola? That’s what dōTERRA and Young Living are selling, “essential oils.” That’s what Natural Solutions Foundation is selling. Look at some of these quack claims, such as the ones made by Young Living. Now Young Living appears to have scrubbed its website of any any mention of Ebola, thanks to Google Cache, we can see claims like:

ebolashot2

And claims like:

The Higley Essential Oil Reference guide mentions that the Ebola Virus cannot live in the presence of cinnamon bark (this is in Thieves) nor Oregano. I would definitely add those two oils to whatever I was using. ImmuPower by Young Living would be a top choice as well. ImmuPower is a blended oil containing (oregano, clove, frankincense, ravintsara, cistus, mountain savory and hyssop). Every single one of these individual oils has anti-viral properties.

You would definitely want to have Di-Gize on hand to treat the GI complaints. Peppermint or Lemon to help reduce fever, and Helichrysum or Geranium to help with bleeding issues. Support oils for the liver would include JuvaCleanse and JuvaFlex.

I pray we don’t have to hear about this virus coming to the U.S. but if you travel outside of our country or know someone who goes to Africa or lives in Africa, maybe you could send them a care package of Young Living essential oils!

Then, of course, Adams sells dōTERRA Essential Oils as part of his “natural biopreparedness” quackery; so it’s not surprising that he’s upset that the FDA has called out dōTERRA for its scientifically unsupported claims that include, among others, that dōTERRA oils can treat or prevent Ebola and that they are “highly antiviral.” In addition, the FDA has perused a lot of dōTERRA websites and social media sites, finding claims that go beyond treating Ebola to include treating inflammation, cancer, neurological issues, asthma, autism, brain injury, and bacterial infections, among other diseases. There is, of course, no compelling scientific evidence that essential oils, be they dōTERRA or Young Living, do anything of the sort, although they probably do smell nice. None of this stops Adams and other quacks from promoting it for biological warfare preparedness.

As for Nano Silver, this strikes me as nothing more than the latest variant of a very old form of quackery, colloidal silver. The main difference is that Nano-Silver is...well, nano! The main claim is that because Nano-Silver contains silver particles measuring only 2 nm in diameter, which is about five times smaller than the average diameter of a colloidal silver particle, it’s much better at killing viruses because it allegedly has a higher concentration and has the “advantage of small particles from the standpoint of penetration into capillaries, cells, pathogens and ‘backwater’ body tissues. Though not readily calculable, mathematically, a knowledge of the body and its structure brings readily to mind the great advantage of particles a tenth the size of those of other products.” It’s all highly dubious, designed from my perspective mainly to rename colloidal silver as “Nano-Silver,” you know, because “Nano” sounds so much cooler than “colloidal.” Again, there’s no compelling evidence that Nano-Silver can do what is claimed: Treat Ebola. Or anything else, at least when taken internally. Yes, it is true that silver can be used as an antibiotic, but that’s in topical silver-containing pastes and ointments, where the concentration of silver can be much higher. When silver is taken internally, its concentration that’s not toxic is too low to be an effective antibiotic. So selling Nano-Silver as a treatment for Ebola, as Rima Laiblow is doing, is pure quackery.

Adams, of course, uses a hilarious false equivalency argument to rant against the unfairness of it all:

Here at Natural News, I've consistently repeated that NOTHING has yet been proven to treat, prevent or cure Ebola. Thus, all medicines -- natural, conventional or otherwise -- are "experimental and unproven" by definition. And yet, amazingly, any experimental and unproven medicines produced by drug companies automatically enjoy the faith-based default belief that they are safe and effective while any experimental and unproven medicines synthesized by Mother Nature are assumed to be dangerous and useless.

And:

Fact #2) The FDA openly rubber-stamped the treatment of Ebola patients with the entirely unproven, experimental drug "ZMapp," which has so far resulted in around a 40% fatality rate in Ebola patients. How exactly is it that an unproven pharmaceutical is okay to use as a treatment for Ebola, but an unproven herb or natural remedy is completely unacceptable and possibly illegal? (The double standard of so-called "science" is breathtaking...)

See the false equivalence? Because there isn’t a scientifically validated cure for Ebola yet, everything is experimental, including the quackery that Adams promotes. So to him it’s all good. It’s all equivalent. Why “suppress” one and not the other? Here’s the difference: The experimental treatments being tested for treating Ebola, such as ZMapp, have preclinical evidence to support their use. They were developed through the scientific process. They aren’t based on magical thinking (like essential oils) or a misunderstanding of chemistry (like Nano-Silver).

Now, in fairness, I was highly skeptical and not particularly enthusiastic about the FDA’s having approved the emergency use of ZMapp on humans, given that it hasn’t even passed a phase I trial and, prior to its use on an American Ebola victim, had never been administered to humans. This decision has been co-opted by advocates of right-to-try laws, and now it’s being co-opted by a quack like Mike Adams. In any case, Adams is completely wrong about this one, too:

Fact #1) The FDA refuses to conduct any testing on natural or alternative therapies (such as colloidal silver) in order to find out whether they work or not. What if some of these alternative medicines actually do work, but the medical monopoly doesn't want us to find out?

And:

It is my belief that these assumptions are upside-down. Plant-based medicines have been effectively used for thousands of years to fight plagues in regions like ancient China, for example. There is already a track record of plant-based medicine being used throughout human history to halt the spread of disease. The fact that the FDA refuses to acknowledge the existence of that historical record does not make it disappear from human civilization. And while we should never leap to the conclusion that such plants are useful for modern-day Ebola, shouldn't we at least TEST them and find out for sure?

The FDA doesn’t conduct testing itself. It oversees and regulates drug testing by companies, universities, and research institutes designed to produce evidence to be used in an application for FDA approval of drugs and devices. If Adams thinks colloidal silver should be tested in humans, then perhaps he should approach the companies selling it and ask them why they haven’t done the necessary preclinical testing and conducted clinical trials. Ditto these “natural remedies.” Companies always have an excuse why not, whether the testing is too expensive, being “suppressed,” or whatever. Also, pharmaceutical companies are not averse to testing “natural treatments” (i.e., natural products derived from plants) against viruses, cancer, or many other diseases. Heck, as an example, the National Cancer Institute has a whole program designed to test natural products for anticancer activity. The only thing preventing testing of these “natural cures” is the people selling these “natural cures.” They don’t want to test them because they really don’t want to find out if they don’t work and, on the off chance that they do work, it’s likely far more profitable just to keep selling them, because clinical trials are expensive. Still, one wonders why some rich believers in alternative medicine don’t band together to provide the funds to test these remedies.

And the FDA going after these companies is a very good thing indeed. If they are claiming to be able to treat and prevent Ebola, they are scamming the public and endangering lives.

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I've seen several children with contact dermatitis to these "essential oils". Maybe if you put Ebola virus in the jar containing the oil the virus would denature itself, but so what as in vitro ain't in vivo?

When I try talking to parents about using these essentially stupid oils, I get the usual "everyone tells me they help treat everything under the sun" reply. It's so bizarre that parents don't get it when I point out if that snake oil as really treating everything as the parent claims, then I shouldn't need to be seeing their child in clinic for a sick visit.

By Chris Hickie (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

That's right, modern medicine wants nothing to do with pharmaceuticals derived from natural sources. Except morphine. And digoxin. And statins. And maybe theophylline and pseudoephedrine. But nothing else. Well maybe pacltaxel, vinblastine, vincristine, curare, physostigmine, scopolamine, and atropine. But definitely nothing else. Well maybe...

@Michael - you winz One Internetz!!!

@Michael, don't forget almost every single antibiotic ever made.

By Sian Williams (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Ugh,these essential oils are being peddled by moms all over my Facebook feed. They are expensive too!

Decreasing the size of the colloidal silver particles means that any effect that depends on available surface area will be enhanced. But that means bad effects (like getting into your lungs) as well as good effects (which, given silver's relative inertness, I'm not seeing any, but there may be something I'm overlooking). If colloidal silver actually did have beneficial effects proportional to the surface area of the particles, then making the particles smaller would be a reasonable thing to do. But even assuming arguendo that there were beneficial effects to colloidal silver, I don't see why they would be enhanced by increasing particle surface area, and as you note, the claims of beneficial effects are dubious to begin with.

By Eric Lund (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Michael:

... and Aspirin.

Here is an article from a couple of years ago describing some work done at Rice University, where the conclusion was that only silver ions are effective.

Re: increased surface area of smaller particles and relative inertness of silver , I'm still surprised no one's thought to market it with the buzzword 'catalytic' appended. Might even be able to trademark it ("Catalytic NanoSilver (TM"),

Given that traditional "nano" particles can have some fairly deleterious effects on users (i.e. human beings), I wouldn't want to expose myself to something that hadn't actually be thoroughly tested and vetted by, you know, real researchers

@eric

Silver has both antimicrobial and antibacterial properties - which are related to the release of the Ag+ cation, which has an inverse relationship to particle size.

The problem - it's a non-specific antibacterial, etc. So for folks who are ingesting it regularly, it'll kill off the 'good' gut bacteria just as easily as the 'bad'.

It's taken up into the liver, lungs, heart, kidneys and brain - depending on the particle size it can either diffuse across the membrane, or be taken up in place of Na+, where it will cause ROS generation in the cell which normally will cause apoptosis.

Silver also gives a positive modified Ames test, and is known to be genotoxic to both the sperm and ova.

With regards to inhalation - the size of the particle will determine where the particle deposits in the lung - and the shape of the particle (quantum dot, rod, etc) can also play a role with inducing inflammation, etc.

Rod shaped nanomaterials (MWCNT, SWCNT, etc) are being eyed as possible carcinogens - they act like asbsestos in the lung, and could possibly lead to mesothelioma.

I have several friends who are into the Doterra essential oils that I have also friended on Facebook.

A few months ago, one of my friends who is into essential oils, had to take her 3 year old daughter to the ER for a severe reaction to peanuts. Tests confirmed that her child has the severe, deadly peanut allergy that requires epinephrine for the resultant anaphylaxis should the child ever ingest any.

To the credit of my friend, it sounds like she is following the doctors advice and understands the proper, science based treatments for her daughter.

However, after she announced her ordeal on FB, in came her DoTerra friends. One went as far as to call the epipen 'unnatural' and advised her to replace it with some crazy concoction of essential oils.

I was pretty dumbstruck by this, that someone would be so arrogant and ignorant as to literally risk the life of another person's child and to contradict the advice of a real doc based on pure fantasy and baseless assumption.

It really hurts the head, from them calling epinephrine unnatural (its endogenous, unlike these crazy essential oils) to essentially practicing medicine without a license because they believe in their magic.

As a quick aside, I am terribly allergic essential oils and find that my skin has an almost immediate atopic dermatititis rxn. I didn't use them expecting them to cure anything, I simply tried some essential oil infused shaving creams that smelled really good, so I wanted to try them. Ended up nuking my face instead...

The whole notion that nano silver somehow is only going to kill pathogens and leave all other bacteria and host cells unscathed seems remarkably magical to me.
Not long ago, there was some mention in a thread about the large amounts of mercury absorbed from application of thimerosal to omphaloceles in several infants. Using thimerosal or silver on intact skin is probably quite safe, even at levels well above those "required". Slopping thimerosal on an omphalocele I would have thought is about as close to intraperitoneal injection as it is possible to get without actually using a needle. Drinking silver is similarly hugely different from topical application. These are exactly the sorts things Adams and his followers wail about when it comes to vaccines, but A-OK for untested silver.

Young Living obviously does cutting-edge science -- we learn that the Black Plague, apparently, was caused by a virus.

And I can get a good-sized bag of cinnamon bark for about a dollar at the local bulk grocery. Don't know what they charge for theirs, but "Thieves" is probably descriptive.

And while we should never leap to the conclusion that such plants are useful for modern-day Ebola, shouldn’t we at least TEST them and find out for sure?

Go for it, Mike Adams – test them! Write up your IND, submit it to the FDA, and start up some trials. What’s stopping you? What are you waiting for?

@Doug

I remember a friend of mine referring me to a Mercola article regarding how to test your silver for 'purity' - by adding sodium chloride in excess.

I laughed so hard about that - because that's pretty much rendering the silver useless. AgCl compounds aren't really soluble, and there's very little Ag+ released from them.

@ EBMOD:

One of the (not) Thinking Moms often proselytises about essential oils (YL): 'Dragonslayer' -who lives in Malaysia -
describes how absolutely ESSENTIAL to health these products are - virtually panacaea- especially when her family had various ills during a trip to Japan. Like other TMs, she gives medical advices to all comers as though she were qualified by reality-based study.

By Denice Walter (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

One particularly deluded homeopath named Ken Oftedal even took homeopathy’s law of similars literally and recommended a homeopathic remedy for Ebola that is made using infected bodily fluids from an Ebola victim as the base remedy that is diluted homeopathically. This was a remedy that was too quacky even for a contender for the title of One Quack To Rule Them All, Mike Adams.

Well, of course Adams pulled the post. It was bad homeopathic science.

One of the two main principals of homeopathy is 'like cures like', not 'same cures same'. Using Ebola to cure Ebola is just wrong. You would use Ebola (properly diluted, of course) to cure, say, a stroke or a laceration, or even a shortage of platelets. To cure Ebola, you would use diluted anticoagulants.

Adams is smart enough to know that.

/sarcasm

Nano Silver!!?! That is so obsolete. We can now do better, much much better! I introduce you to...

...PICO SILVER...

Our 2,000 pm silver particles are just soooo much better than those 2 nm particles. I mean, just look at those numbers! Pico Silver must be 1,000 times better!!!!! Get it now!!! If you take Pico Silver (and live in a first-world country) you will almost certainly not get infected by Ebola.

I was going to say that I was surprised that no one has produced a nanosilver inhaler. But then I thought I'd check first. Behold, the SilverLungs nanosilver nebulizer. Breathe in silver nanoparticles to help you fight infection.

Just ignore the fact that silver nanoparticles are cytotoxic to lung cells, particularly at smaller sizes.

@EBMOD #11:

I was pretty dumbstruck by this, that someone would be so arrogant and ignorant as to literally risk the life of another person’s child and to contradict the advice of a real doc based on pure fantasy and baseless assumption.

Perhaps they'd ran out of their own children.

@rs #18:

…PICO SILVER…

Why not raise the stakes and go full QUANTUM!!!

By Rich Woods (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

rs@18: No, no, no, you want smaller numbers, not bigger. Offer your 0.002 μm particles and watch the sales pile up. Because you know that those 2 nm particles--TWO WHOLE NANOMETERS--are much too big.

Or wait a decade or two for picotechnology to become all the rage. I suspect the average Mike Adams fan doesn't know what the prefix pico- means. Ten years ago, he wouldn't have heard of nanotechnology, or known what nano- means.

By Eric Lund (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Maybe a stupid question...what does this mean for people selling Doterra and YL oils? Can they still make silly claims to what the oil can do? Or will they get in trouble by the FDA? What happens next? thanks!

Or anything else, at least when taken internally. Yes, it is

true that silver can be used as an antibiotic, but that’s in topical silver-containing pastes and ointments, where the concentration of silver can be much higher. When silver is taken internally, its concentration that’s not toxic is too low to be an effective antibiotic. So selling Nano-Silver as a treatment for Ebola, as Rima Laiblow is doing, is pure quackery.

But, the small particle size is precisely why the EPA has classified nano silver as a pesticide and had the stuff pulled from widgets such as *diabetic sox* until it can be shown to be 'safe' by those selling the products (I doubt there will be assistance from federally funded studies unless it be to highlight the occasional negative effect, as was with cannabis).

It is ludicrous to me that the smallness of the particles now may threaten the well-being of benificial soil bacteria over vast areas and volumes and yet be ineffective as an antibiotic inside the body?? This makes me want to revisit homeopathy.

It is ludicrous to me that ^^ EPA would be concerned about little bits of silver and gays and what they may be doing to the soil when Death such as glyphosate and chlorothalonil rain down on every square inch of Earth, as it is.

My 'breathing together' of a one-year timeline on the this issue with the relevant links resides here:

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/09/04/who-releases-alarming-ebol…

=================================

Equally alarming are hints of intentional fraud and possibly something more nefarious at foot to discredit colloidal silver --

Zulgtal Labs. They couldn't be pinned down on the part particles vs the ionic {the form that can turn you blue after sulfation inside cells}...

Google *Zulgtal colloidal silver fraudulent* +++

http://google.com/search?q=zulgtal+colloidal+silver+fraudulent&ie=utf-8…

Hmm.

Google *Zulgtal colloidal silver wonderful*

http://google.com/search?q=zulgtal+colloidal+silver+wonderful&btnG=Sear…

Hmm. Google works again...

as for *fake* and *fraud*, they gave the null result page but now have 7 links each. I literally watched these links fill slowly as if by hand as I was demonstrating this discrepancy to a family member. One of the pages actually said "about 160 results" but only the 7 were ever shown... there was actually no 'page 2' results.

I'd ingested 15 ml of this stuff, immediately recognizing that it wasn't right before stumbling upon the strange funneling of Google over it... I fear the unknown/ State actor manipulation for what may have really been in that bottle.

+++ note: Noscript must be blocking google. Also, cookies, LSOs, must be cleared or it will just be millions of links to buy silver and not "no results found".

@liz

IIRC, distributors are covered by the same rules that apply to manufacturers regarding health claims for the products they sell.

However, the end store (e.g., CVS or Walmart) could conceivably put up copy from the manufacturer/distributor without getting in hot water. After all, the claims are being made by the mfr/dist, not the store. I'd have to brush off my legal references, though, on that question.

Real nerds use Ångströms...

@Todd

There's also folks who want to use a nasal spray of colloidal silver... because nothing says 'Good going!' like giving the silver a fastpass to the brain and bypassing the BBB, right?

Why not raise the stakes and go full QUANTUM!!!

Even better,start with a suspension of Pico-silver, then succuss to 30C,

You can't get any smaller than not even there.

Mayer Eisenstein sent out a newsletter recently stating that vitamin C, vitamin D and probiotics will help you survive viruses. Thus, they will work on ebola. And you can buy all three products from him.

By Matt Carey (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

#22 "Offer your 0.002 μm particles and watch the sales pile up."

Sorry, our marketing department is unicode challenged. Besides, they're now focused on some sort of "femto" thingy. Should be awesome!

Adams is actually complaining about a treatment that resulted in a 40% fatality rate in Ebola patients?! Presumably he thinks that his readers will think that "oh my god, that's way too high!" and forget all the scary stories about the fatality rate for untreated Ebola.

I could really use about 12.5 mg of hydroxyzine hydrochlroide right about now... Any drug pushers in the house??

40% vs. about 95% - I'll take those odds.....if things don't get better over there, we could be looking at a death toll in the tens of thousands (or worse).

PICO SILVER…
Why not raise the stakes and go full QUANTUM!!!

I give you MONOATOMIC GOLD.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

And you can buy all three products from him.

While you and he both insist that Orac et al. are the shills.

By Eric Lund (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Adams is actually complaining about a treatment that resulted in a 40% fatality rate in Ebola patients?

"40%" sounds a lot scarier than "did not save two out of the five dying patients".

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Monoatomic gold?

Pfff.

We need to go smaller. And sadly, I'm sure this already exists: HOMEOPATHIC NANOPARTICLE SILVER!

Also:
"You would definitely want to have Di-Gize on hand to treat the GI complaints"

Well, that's certainly an interesting euphemism for "bleeding out via your digestive tract".

By Calli Arcale (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

"Silver also gives a positive modified Ames test, and is known to be genotoxic to both the sperm and ova. "

It might be better to encourage some forms of woo, so that the woo-infused jackwagons reproduce less.

By DriveByPoster (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Mayer Eisenstein sent out a newsletter recently stating that vitamin C, vitamin D and probiotics will help you survive viruses.

Did it mention that part of his current bankruptcy proceedings seems to include abandoning his downtown office?

If Rima Laibow and Mayer Eisenstein are both in on the scam, I guess it must be legitimate after all.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

The last Eisenstein-related news I remember was his lawyer's attempt to withdraw from his bankruptcy petition, having discovered that Eisenstein wasn't paying him.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

@ Rich Woods

"Perhaps they’d ran out of their own children."

Oh man, that is dark. But funny. Well played...

Although I haven't seen his entire tale collected in one place, Eisenstein has an interesting history in the courts involving judgments against him, property transfer, bankruptcy.
He is a doctor/ lawyer/ MPH -btw- and is often cited by anti-vaxxers as presiding over a clientele of 30,000 un-autisic,,un-vaxxed patients.

By Denice Walter (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

AUTISTIC....

By Denice Walter (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

If you scroll way, way, way down to the bottom of the NN Store page, underneath the logos for the major credit cards and PayPal, you'll see this text is teeny tiny gray print:

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

Did the quackers warned by the FDA NOT have this disclaimer on the pages offering the 'anti-ebola' (snake) oils for sale?
Does the presence of this disclaimer somewhere immunize the quackers to the extent that they can make any crazy-ass curative claim they want in the body copy up-page, or on other pages on their sites that offer 'news' about these products but don't actually offer them for sale (on that page)?
Specifically, does this disclaimer shield them from wrongful death litigation? What if EBMOD's FB friend had just gone to one of these sites, ordered some oil to treat her daughter's reaction to peanuts, and a subsequent Skippy encounter had caused the child to go into fatal anaphylaxis?
Why aren't there more and tougher laws against this crap? (OK, nevermind. I know. Because Big Guvment regulation is always bad, because the Magic of the Market is always better than the Nanny State, because the Gadsden Flag, because Atlas Shrugged, because the highest of all human rights is the right to maximize profit by exploiting the weakness of others...)
Speaking of laws that do exist, as The Natural Solutions Foundation store has been dropped by PayPal, Rima Laibow is now taking orders for her Nano-Silver cure from customers willing to send her a letter containing a check or money order. Is this not mail fraud?
.....................
On a lighter note, for a dose of apparently unintentional comedy gold, you MUST read this post from the comments thread under Health Danger's anti-FDA screed, in which one 'expat,' a purveyor of natural remedies calls out Rima Laibow and her Natural Solutions Foundation as frauds on the basis what appears to be the Mothership of all Conspiracy Theories.

I would have just linked it, but NN links always seem to get redirected, so I'm pasting it below. Feel free to skip if you're not in the mood for mirthful madness.

Having followed the antics of the Natural Solutions Foundation since their inception, and also distributing the same silver sol technology that they do, although not under their private label marque, I was somewhat disturbed when a friend sent me the link to Rima Laibows hyperbolic silver-cures-Ebola youtube link. I immediately contacted the
manufacturer and warned them to batten the hatches for regulatory repercussions.
Rima Laibow is a psychiatrist, presumably retired. She is married to spook and military mind control specialist Maj. Gen. Albert Stubblebine, ret. Stubby was Admiral Poindexter's bagman when the TIA program (total information awareness) was announced. That was the one with the creepy pyramid with the all seeing eye logo. Public outrage forced the congressional closure of that program, but we see now that it only dropped the name and moved into the NSA black projects which Edward Snowden exposed. Stubby also headed up the military's bizarre Men Who Stare at Goats program, and is humorously portrayed in the movie of the same title.
They were an odd couple to see barging into the alternative health field, well funded but claiming poverty and sucking donations away from far more productive consumer advocate groups. Their disruptive appearance at international WHO conferences, where actual progress was being made, re: alternative health and supplement protections, invoked the ire of many dedicated alternative health advocates in attendance. One of those is Dr. Mathias Rath, who has held CODEX alimentarius at bay in Europe for several decades. His foundation reports on their dealings with the Stubblebines here:
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/THE_FOUNDATION/Events/codex-agentsof…..
Also - http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/THE_FOUNDATION/Events/codex-modernge…
Then there is this exchange between a scientist and the Natural Solutions attorney/gatekeeper, Ralph Fucetola.
http://angryscientist.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/is-dr-rima-laibow-exagge…
Either these people are complete idiots hoping to make a nice little cottage industry in the nutritional supplement field, or they are paid agents provocateur tasked with making truly effective therapies suffer the heat of intense regulatory pressures, while at the same time casting a negative pall, via FDA censure, over the targeted supplements in the eye of the general public. My personal feeling that it is the latter.
That is a shame because the specific silver supplement technology, that she has now tasked the FDA with suppressing, likely holds the key to replacing most of the toxic antibiotics in use today. This is not the first time that the pharmas and government have gone after this technology and its several patents.

I'd like to think Philip K. Dick's reported death was a hoax to cover up his kidnapping by VALIS, and Phil is now in orbit around Sirius channeling his fiction into the minds of the woo-begone with Pink Laser Beams. But I'm not sure even Dick could make this stuff up.
................
The problem with satire is reality tends to surpass the intended hyperbole at ever increasing speed over time...
Nevertheless...

Thanks to General General Stubblebeans, Dr. Reemya Laybutt has long know the secrets of nanotechnology. This knowledge of the Quantum, so unknowable to the merely human mind, was brought to Earth by an alien being sent on an interstellar mission to spread the wisdom of his advanced civilization throughout the galaxy. He meant to deliver his gift to all peoples of all nations, but knowing too little about the deceptions of men, and physically vulnerable, he was captured by the Black Helicopter forces, transported to Area 51, and tortured.

We do not know what magic beyond nanotech the spooks gleaned from him, only that he would have been able to divulge the complex formula for lasting peace had they only asked him nicely. Instead, not being human, his body just decomposed when they turned the dial on the Popeil Pain-o-Matic past five.

The alien's name was Mort and he hailed from the planet Ort. His term for very small things was "nano nano." Worried that word of Mort from Ort's presence on Earth would leak in some form, and rejecting the proposal for a mass assasination program by the Sub-Director of Information Security (who, it is said, bore a striking resemblance to Gary Oldman) as impractical, the Head Spook ordered a false-flag operation to be put in place.

Agents of the Illuminati in the Military-Entertainment-Complex were contacted and charged to develop a fiction that would render the idea of an alien visitor named Mort from Ort as harmless myth, though of course, they were not given the Truth behind the request, nor were they foolish enough to ask. Well versed in The Protocals Of The Elders of Zion, they settled on creating a situation comedy in which the alien visitor was a charming bumbler, so lacking in valuable Higher Knowledge he was incapable of comprehending the ways of the Earthlings he had been sent to merely observe. "Nano Nano" was transformed into an all-purpose greeting, to hide it's reference to specific world-changing science.

Producer Jerry Marshmallow changed the alien's name to Mork from Ork because he thought Mort from Ort sounded too Jewish. "Nano Nano" was transformed to "Nanu Nanu" when drug-addled genius actor Roben Villiums mis-read the script.

The scheme was a smashing success, not only shielding the Truth about Mort and nanotech from the public mind, but brought tons of cash back to The Dark Force in the form of increased sales of mind-poisoning Pepsi (owned by a front for the conspiracy, of course) to The Now Generation.

You may ask, 'what does any of this mean for me today.' Open your eyes friends. Dr. Reemya has already offered the world a combination of Natural Remedies to cleanse the mind and colon of the many deleterious effects of Pepsi. Now she has further betrayed the Illuminati and is about to deploy nano-silver to thwart the Dark Force scheme to thin down the U.S. population via the Ebola virus -- which having been created by mad gene scientists dragooned from Minsinta, they have spread in West Africa as a diversion prior to introducing it here in Tall Mocha Lattes.

For this, she has been targeted by the FDA on one side, and a disinformation campaign from Shills planted in the plant medicine community on the other. Also in on the conspiracy is the shill running this blog, who calls himself Ork, which not coincidentally also happens to be the name given the marauding manufactured mudinoids that plague America as Revealed in the Gospel of Freydo Bigones.

All of these Orkin automata attack each and every one of the many natural methods that could have balanced Roben Villiums Qi, cured his depression, and would have let him be The Teller of Truth (freed from the Thimerisal poisoning in his Coca Cola), had not his 'suicide' been staged by Pin Gilatto.

This same mustache-twiddling "Doctor" Ork Moreau, who would have you believe he thinks Ebola is funny embeds coded messages to his herded hoards like the scientifically-impossible "11 and off the chart" which insidiously references the movie Spinal Tap which is filled with Subliminal Messages hypnotizing innocent viewers to undergo the painful invasive and expensive 'procedure' of the title -- which no one would ever need if they protected their immune system with Nature -- while further encouraging to ingest dangerously Satanic Heavy Metals.

And who foisted this aptly titled "cult" film on unknowing teens and 20-somethings? Jerry Marshmallow's <brother-in-law!!!

Connect the dots, my friends. It's time to pull your nose out of the comfortable wooly arse of the sheeperson in front of you, leave the smelly herd to its awaiting slaughter, and take the bold individual action offered you by the brave Dr. Reemya, before the spooks arrange for an overdose of pico-silver to 'accidentally' enter her lungs via her SliverLungs (TM) nebulizer.

Dr. Reemya's Sliver Salution is bound to sell out quickly. So get your pre-order in now to protect your family from excruciating death!

(Check or money order required. Ignore the stuff about "This product is not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease." at the bottom of the Sliver Salution page. The Dark Force has hackers.)

WARNING!

If you have any form of epilepsy or any other sensitivity to strobe seizures DO NOT CLICK any of the links at the bottom of the Riddled page HDB Linked as 'MONOATOMIC GOLD." #34

On a less serious note, even the non-seizure-sensitive may want to avoid those links unless they've been reading a lot of P. K. Dick, listening to a lot of 13th Floor Elevators and Red Crayola, or they're a Wixáritari who has drawn from the pipe for a vision quest.

@HDB, what's the story of that site? Is is 'for real.'

How dare the FDA. Next thing you know, they'll be cracking down on my elixir sulfanilamide.

By Roadstergal (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Addendum re: Riddled links #34, #44

The page titlled 'Art Vandalism' doesn't stobe, and some of the GIFs are pretty funny, especially toward the bottom of the page...

@HDB, what’s the story of that site? Is is ‘for real.’

"Riddled" is not an entirely serious site. The 'monosatomic gold' scam is quite real, though, and the claims made by its grifters required no exaggeration.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 25 Sep 2014 #permalink

Wow. What?? Shit, Sadmar; I yeild, sir.

I'm no metallurgist, but I'm reading online that mercury is a metal commonly found mining for silver. How do all these colloidal collusionists know they have brought the mercury level in their silver to a safe level?

By Chris Hickie (not verified) on 26 Sep 2014 #permalink

Ok, I know this isn't directly related to the post, but I couldn't think of where to put it.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2014/09/26/health-products-big-fat-…
Cliff notes version: a Doctor Harris Steinman complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about claims made in adverts for Herbex's products. The ASA ruled the claims were without evidence and banned the ads. Herbex appealed, and the judge, Kate O' Regan, upheld ASA's original verdict.

By Julian Frost (not verified) on 26 Sep 2014 #permalink

I would totally believe anything Rima Laibow told me about cures. After all, she runs the Natural Solutions Foundation together with her husband, Major General (ret.) Albert Stubblebine, the man who (almost) could walk through walls, and who led the Men Who Stare At Goats.

As for the Giant Pharma Repression of Natural Remedies - my favorite is when alties claim that no one researches natural substances because they can't be patented, then in virtually the same breath assure us that 80 (or 90, or 99.9) percent of modern pharma drugs are derived from natural substances.

The stupid, it burns...but it's nothing that a nano-silver paste won't cure.

By Dangerous Bacon (not verified) on 26 Sep 2014 #permalink

Rima Laibow is consistent on one point -- the need for her readers to send her money -- so we can forgive her inconsistency on less important issues.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 26 Sep 2014 #permalink

and is often cited by anti-vaxxers as presiding over a clientele of 30,000 un-autisic,,un-vaxxed patients

IIRC, when he first started making such claims, it turned out that he didn't have adequate recordkeeping. Suddenly, a couple years later, he magically did and it was all computified and everything. It might be in an older Tsouderos article, but I think I looked a few months ago and couldn't find it.

Tim, @26:

Sounds like me, when I was doing crystallography (no, that has nothing to do with crystal healing!!!) in the 1970s.
Thanks for the blast from the past.

By Derek Freyberg (not verified) on 26 Sep 2014 #permalink

On the sad side, Derek Lowe in his excellent medicinal chemistry and things pharmaceutical blog "In the Pipeline" reports on a Delaware State University academic with an article in the "Liberian Observer" (http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/ebola-aids-manufactured-wester…) suggesting that Ebola is essentially a US bioweapon against Africans ( Derek Lowe's article is at http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/09/26/the_deadly_stupidities_…). Here is one of the few situations in which I would advocate prior restraint - as in "shut this loony down before he does more harm".

By Derek Freyberg (not verified) on 26 Sep 2014 #permalink

Crap. Derek Freyberg, I'd seen similar this morning:

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/09/11/largest-liberian-newspaper-us…

It *looks* as though his conspiracy theory and mine came from the same sources:

A second press release two weeks ago from Tekmira Pharmaceuticals announced the deal with the Pentagon. The US military is paying the company $140 million to test drug treatments for Ebola.

http://whiteoutpress.com/articles/2014/q3/cdc-ebola-patent-could-earn-b…

Even if it were all true, this should not have appeared in the way it did on their largest outlet in dogwhistle-style, FauxNews. must be true. "...Some scientists say...". frenzy whipping format to where everyone with a hoodie and a mop gets bopped. The disease is now for whyever -- And forcing the hands of the authorities into final furtherance of the zombie meme due to compounding civil unrest is likely to prove unproductive.

You know NOT of what you speak! You are So completely INCORRECT on all fronts. There is no reasoning with the likes of you, though!

By sue whitney (not verified) on 01 Oct 2014 #permalink

@sue

Care to point out where Orac is wrong with actual evidence, or are you making blanket accusations with no support?

There is no reasoning with the likes of you, though!

Go on Sue, give it a go. I think you'll find reason is looked upon with high regard around here.

By Krebiozen (not verified) on 01 Oct 2014 #permalink

"I think you’ll find reason is looked upon with high regard around here."

Speaking in ALL CAPS, not so much.

By Dangerous Bacon (not verified) on 01 Oct 2014 #permalink

Come back, Sue Whitney.

Let us reason together.

By squirrelelite (not verified) on 01 Oct 2014 #permalink

I've been on chemo for since June 2013 for brain cancer.My whole family has come down with the flu, colds etc, but I have not come down with anything. Does that mean that chemo prevents diseases. No, I just have good immune system.

By stephen gorrill (not verified) on 05 Oct 2014 #permalink

There is no reasoning with the likes of you, though!

Since sue whitney has not reasoned with the likes of "you", does that prove him/her correct?

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 05 Oct 2014 #permalink

Has any one on here bashing the oils, which I might add are just plant based actually tried them? Maybe test them for your self and come to an informed conclusion. Or just go back to your coca cola and pesticide laden chemical shitstorm. Seriously people do some research and see what the people were actually using when they survived the plague. Or do you think everyone died because they couldn't go the ER and get a prescription, that has more side effects than anything. Now back to all my SSRI'S

@cody,

There's a whole branch of medical science called pharmacognosy, which involves the search for chemical with useful pharmaceutical/medical properties.

That's where we got aspirin and taxol, to name just a couple. Your proposed one-off test wouldn't even generate enough statistical information to merit a preliminary study, though.

Our informal state nickname is "the land of the flea and the home of the plague" as you can see from this map.
http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/

Cases of the plague often make the television news, and the victims get the best science-based medical treatment available. I haven't heard of anyone declining this to opt for treatment with their essential oils.

Which of these treatments would you choose for yourself?
http://listverse.com/2013/01/21/10-crazy-cures-for-the-black-death/

By squirrelelite (not verified) on 05 Oct 2014 #permalink

Seriously people do some research and see what the people were actually using when they survived the plague

One thing we can be sure that people weren't doing when they survived the plague, was dosing themselves on some grifter's "Thieves' Oil" using an ingredient from an Australian tree.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 05 Oct 2014 #permalink

@cody - would you happen to have any good data on plague survival rates for those who used essential oils as treatment and those who didn't? Better, do you have the results of studies showing which essential oils or combinations thereof are most effective at curing plague and how this would affect any diseases people are more likely to come into contact with (those in New Mexico excepted, naturally)? Thanks.

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 05 Oct 2014 #permalink

Maybe test them for your self and come to an informed conclusion.

For the Plague? You first.

I am not sure if these oils work or not. But I have had two
Family members die from using drugs approved
By the FDA.
So, I personally hold no more hope in what the FDA
Approves than what these people claim.
In addition, my brother-in-law ( a very healthy, average weight
Guy, non smoker or drinker that works out four times a week) was given medicine for cholesterol that was approved. He began to get stiffness and weakness in his arms and legs. He was told by his Dr that he needed to keep taking this medicine. Until finally he was two stories up a ladder Nd couldn't get down. His arms were locked. He stopped taking the medicine. Then when he went to find out why his arms are locked out like an apes arms, he was told the muscle will never reverse as that medicine caused permanent damage to them.
I am not a Dr. I am eligible for Mensa ( but choose not to pay for that membership) so not ignorant .
So tell me again, please why it is not ignorant to think that just because FDA hadn't " APPROVED" these other claims that they must be fake and harmful??

Because one person had a bad reaction to a medication does not make all medication bad. I cannot take narcotics for pain because they make me sick to the point of vomiting, but I do well with cholesterol meds.

Also because some react to medications does not mean homeopathy works.

So tell me again, please why it is not ignorant to think that just because FDA hadn’t ” APPROVED” these other claims that they must be fake and harmful??

Please point out where anyone has said that. The question is not what the FDA has approved; it is what has been proven safe and effective by the preponderance of good, science based evidence.

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 10 Oct 2014 #permalink

I am not a Dr. I am eligible for Mensa ( but choose not to pay for that membership) so not ignorant .

Bwahahahaha.... oh wait, you're serious.

I'm a former Mensan. Through that membership I got to know many Mensans. Believe me when I say, there is no contradiction between being a Mensan and being ignorant. Ignorance is the state of lacking knowledge; someone who's very intelligent but refuses to learn that which would challenge their beliefs is ignorant. In some ways the intelligent can be even more prone to ignorance; they can invent an even wider variety of excuses for why they don't have to consider something that threatens their comfortable worldview.

By Antaeus Feldspar (not verified) on 10 Oct 2014 #permalink

So what is going on
With so many people writing comments
In what seems to be
Blank verse?

If you want to write
Nonsense in an odd format
Please stick to haiku.

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 10 Oct 2014 #permalink

I needed to take seminars to fulfill a requirement in grad school wherein an extremely irritating and rather histrionic student thought me SO clever and wanted to get me involved with Mensa:
I told her,"No thanks". Why join a club where everyone is forever telling you how smart they are? I already had enough of that in everyday life.
-btw- she didn't last too long around our happy little camp. Heh.

By Denice Walter (not verified) on 10 Oct 2014 #permalink

He stopped taking the medicine. Then when he went to find out why his arms are locked out like an apes arms, he was told the muscle will never reverse as that medicine caused permanent damage to them.

This seems like a paradoxical presentation of rhabdomyolysis.

If you want to write
Nonsense in an odd format
Please stick to haiku.

You really do not want me commenting in dirty limericks.
I am surprised that there are not more comments in the style of e.e.cummings or Archy & Mehitabel, after some of the louder trolls use up the entire week's supply of capital letters in one long shouty paragraph.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 10 Oct 2014 #permalink

Something along the lines of "youcouldn'tmakethisstuffupif you tried".

A homeopath named Peter Chappelle has discovered the cure for EBOLA.

No, it's not 100C dilutions of bodily fluids from someone infected with EBOLA as Oftedal advocates--it's violin music.

http://boosters4africa.com/ebola/

I'm wondering, herr doktor bimler,
Would your limericks sound very sim'lar
To what Asimov wrote
Or some doggeral po't?
I think I'll check back after dimler.

OK, it's not dirty.

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 11 Oct 2014 #permalink

And I misspelled doggerel.
Oops

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 11 Oct 2014 #permalink

A homeopath named Peter Chappelle has discovered the cure for EBOLA.

No, it’s not 100C dilutions of bodily fluids from someone infected with EBOLA as Oftedal advocates–it’s violin music.

Well, Itzhak Perlman hasn't got Ebola yet, has he?

Q.E.D.

the cure for EBOLA. –it’s violin music.
This follows from the doctrine of similars, but only if pure undiluted violin music makes you bleed from the orifices. I do not personally react that badly.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 12 Oct 2014 #permalink

How silly you all are. At the base of most if not all medications is an Herb. Do your research. I saw Aspirin here just this summer FDA confessed it is not good at all. Many Herbs have wonderful scientific research to back up their properties. Most of all if you wait on FDA and vaccine for Ebola you will probably die before it gets to you. Personally I am trying to prepare for my family and myself with whatever means it takes. I will not set around watch my family/self die without trying. Hopefully it will work or help in some way. I have been researching in hopes of something working. I am sure that is what most people are desperately trying to do also. During the Bubonic plaque you only had four days and you were dead. Ebola could give a little more time. What if you depend on FDA, CDC, Pharmacuetical companies and there is an epidemic and no treatment. You might be glad to try anything. As for Colloidal silver I used to take it years ago until I discovered there is no Bio path for it to be released from the body and you also can turn green from it. Nano particle Iwould only use as a very last resort. I am gathering Herbs that have had scientific research done just in case. Since this Virus attacks the cells and protects itself with fibrin something to break that down might help. I choose papain, Vitamin C might help keep us fighting a little longer, good diet, White Pine Tea is higher than five Lemons in Vitamin C. work on building a stronger immune system, according to research the bleeding is caused by the immune system breaking down not the virus itself. I was glad to find that out. I hope cayenne or plantain Major or Lanceolotta will help stop the bleeding internally if I get it. I would try anything I could get my fingers on in a matter of life or death. There are other things I will get ready in hopes they might help. Most of which have scientific research to back them up. I would be dead for 8 years if I had not helped myself . My children suggested I go to the doctors. I thought maybe they were right/wrong. I have heard testimony after testimony of people who were sent home to die and cured themselves.

By Janice Barket (not verified) on 17 Oct 2014 #permalink

I'm new to this blog, and I have nothing really to add to the discussion, but I couldn't stand the thought of letting a pro-herbal medicine commenter have the last word. So there.

Quick poll: how many doctors really say "please go home and die"?

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 20 Oct 2014 #permalink

White pine tea may have more vitamin c, but I think lemon and honey win in terms of pure taste. Also, aspirin is not an herb.

By Politicalguineapig (not verified) on 20 Oct 2014 #permalink

... fibrin something to break that down might help

Yes, I'm sure something that broke down fibrin would be great for treating Ebola. It'd stop that nasty blood clotting tout de suite.
---
Poll answer: Doctor Evil

@Mephistopheles O'Brien,

I can't think of any. They're certainly more likely to call for an ambulance and send you to the emergency room or directly admit you to the hospital. But then, how many diagnose you with cancer and tell you that you have six months to live (and the very next day you will drop dead), which seems to be the recurring theme on all those miraculous cancer cure claims.

By squirrelelite (not verified) on 20 Oct 2014 #permalink

White Pine Tea is higher than five Lemons in Vitamin C.
Can you cite a reliable reference for that?

The best I can find is a line in Wikipedia, claiming (without citation) that eastern white pine needles contain five time the amount of vitamin C as an equal weight of lemons. Let's assume that is actually accurate.
This is so typical of the read-some-stuff on the internet "researcher." First, to equal the weight of 5 lemons, you're going to need a heck of big pile of pine needles. OK, now that you have all of you pockets filled with pine needles (and you hands nicely covered in pine sap), you have to get that vitamin C out of them. Just how does that work? Pine needles are not the most permeable of leaves, so I seriously doubt that a quick swish in some cold water is going to do the job. "Boil them up" you say? OK. How much of the vitamin C is actually extracted? How much of it is degraded by the boiling?
Now let's "research" how much vitamin C is in a lemon. I find numbers of about 80 milligrams for a whole fresh lemon including the skin. It may be fun to go off gathering fresh (you might want to research why fresh) pine needles and enjoyable to drink tea made from them, but not very practical. And, I suspect, a cup of pine needle tea with the vitamin C content of even half a lemon would be hideous. But I'd have to "research" that.
I can buy vitamin C tables each containing 250 mg of C for 3 or 4 cents per tab.

If you were in the wilderness and needed vitamin C, rose hips would probably be a much better option than pine needle tea. That said, I've had pine needle tea, and it's actually not bad. I have no clue how much ascobate was actually in it, though. I was drinking it for flavor, not dietary supplementation. ;-)

By Calli Arcale (not verified) on 20 Oct 2014 #permalink

I have chewed pine bark and sucked on pine needles during survival training, and they certainly taste citrusy. I was told at the time they were high in vitamin C and had no reason to doubt that.

By Mephistopheles… (not verified) on 20 Oct 2014 #permalink

Quack's writing articles, criticizing other quack's. Ahhh, America.

By Yannis Moutapianis (not verified) on 11 Nov 2014 #permalink

Quack's what?

Quack’s writing articles, criticizing other quack’s. Ahhh, America.

It would be totally hilarious if this happened to involve a long-standing auto repair shop that doesn't exactly specialize in catering to NAMCO enthusiasts. Just sayin'.

Also, aspirin is not an herb.
Well, it is sufficiently botanical in its origins and early use to be covered by Janice Barket's argument that " At the base of most if not all medications is an Herb."

I was not quite sure how Janice jumped straight from the implied claim that "herbal medicines are good" to one particular botanical medicine, Asprin, "FDA confessed it is no good at all". She may not have thought it through clearly.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 12 Nov 2014 #permalink

It's nice how you write an article to further the propaganda of big pharma included in this comment Is a link to a de classified department of defense threat reduction agency report that gies into great detail about how silver is effective at protecting healthy cells from Ebola infection( in virto ). It also goes on to state that it greatly inhibits the viruses ability to survive (in vitro ). So if this report from the military is even close to accurate then it doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to assume it could work in your body. As for it being a pesticide, HA ! I personally take silver regularly and it keeps me healthy. Before I started taking it I contracted H1N1 and started taking nano silver. It took me a day and a half to get over H1N1! A day and a half. So again thanks for the right wing information but I choose to believe that the substance that has kept me healthy for years has the ability to help a wide range of illnesses that the FDA would never admit to because they would lose untold billions of dollars....... Research it yourself but do it for yourself and not for big pharma.

Advertisements for colloidal silver scams are so much more convincing when disguised as "a de classified department of defense threat reduction agency report"!

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

So if this report from the military is even close to accurate

This is hilarious. Not only was the Powerpoint presentation never classified in the first place, it's not even about EBOV.

"Declassified research" published here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3211222/

I would have thought that the Acknowledgements slide in the PPT show (Slide 21) -- in which the "Air Force Research Laboratory" turns out to essentially a collaboration of nanotech companies -- would have raised more flags about Nano Pharma.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

^ OK, it does in passing.

I'm not finding it or anything close in DTIC, BTW. The real interest seems to be in self-sanitizing materials (PDF).

There are four DTIC entries for Hussain & Speshock; this one (PDF) is amusing:

Due to the strong affinity of silver with –SH groups [45], it is likely that nano-silver may pose a great potential threat to human health. The toxicity of silver exhibited in liver cells was shown to be mediated by oxidative stress [46]. In addition, silver NPs induced toxicity in germ line stem cells [47]. There is a tremendous lack of information on the basic toxicity of nano-sized silver and its interactions with cellular receptors, extra/intra-cellular proteins, organelles and DNA, which needs to be addressed. The major toxicological concern is derived from redox reactive nature of some manufactured nanomaterials [48] and their ability to cross cell membranes into critical organelles such as mitochondria [49].

Rima Laibow has been touting the "declassified Air Force study" to promote her own Nanosilver scam (fortunately, the chances that her product actually contains any silver are negligible, so toxicity is not really an issue).

As far as the Birch Society alt-health loons are concerned, this is just further proof that Laibow is a puppet of the Gubblement Conspiracy, waging a PsyOps campaign to discredit honest grifters like themselves.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

There's also this study from 2010.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20718972

RESULTS:
This research focuses on evaluating the interaction of silver nanoparticles with a New World arenavirus, Tacaribe virus, to determine if they influence viral replication. Surprisingly exposing the virus to silver nanoparticles prior to infection actually facilitated virus uptake into the host cells, but the silver-treated virus had a significant reduction in viral RNA production and progeny virus release, which indicates that silver nanoparticles are capable of inhibiting arenavirus infection in vitro. The inhibition of viral replication must occur during early replication since although pre-infection treatment with silver nanoparticles is very effective, the post-infection addition of silver nanoparticles is only effective if administered within the first 2-4 hours of virus replication.

So, probably at best, if you dose with the nanoparticles immediately after you get infected (which would be long before you show signs of the infection), they might have some benefit.

Or, from Herr Doktor's link

careful consideration to avoid potential undesired effects must be determined before they are used in vivo.

I'd rather have an effective vaccine.

By squirrelelite (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

HDB: Well, aspirin is botanical in origin, but it's also based off bark. I think Janice believes that only stuff made from leaves (or needles) is good for you.

By Politicalguineapig (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

I made a comment on Rima Laibow and her nano-silver scam but the blog software eated it.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

OK, "Rima Laibow" does not filter the spam filter. She has been touting the "declassified Air Force research" to promote her products (for which silver toxicity is not an issue because the chances of them actually containing nano-silver are negligible). This has only strengthened the conviction among Bircher alt-health loons that she is part of a gubblement Psy-Ops campaign to discredit them and their own colloidal silver products.

By herr doktor bimler (not verified) on 14 Nov 2014 #permalink

Surprisingly exposing the virus to silver nanoparticles prior to infection actually facilitated virus uptake into the host cells

I guess it's best not to let them have a chance to mull over similar relationships from the past.