Believe it or not--silver still poisons!

For centuries, silver has been endowed with therapeutic benefits. It is still used today as a "caustic" for superficial bleeding. Within 7days, we had 3 cases of "argyria" and then 2 more over the next month. The first 2 cases involved a husband and wife with a 3-y exposure to naturopathic hydrolyzed silver treatment. The third casewas a 37-y-old male in a state psychiatric facility noted to have darkly "discolored" skin probable obtained from herbal tea. The last 2 cases were a married couple into herbal medications who developed bluish discoloration of face and hands. Current cases due to "alternative medicine" may get worse as rumor reveals its popularity as prophylaxis against anthrax. The skin's grayish discoloration, made worse by sunlight, may persist for life.