![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
He still drinks it too!
He still drinks it too!
What did he think the Ron Popeil Smurfinator would do?
Anyone else thinking Papa Smurf? Colloidal silver is smuftastic!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-3489-100x100.png\")
It's Papa Smurf!
Genius!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-2454-100x100.png\")
I told him not to chew that gum.
(DO SOMETHING!)
Stop...Help...Police...
Take this gentlemen to the squeezing room...
(Oompa Loompa, Doopity Doo...)
The condition is called argyria; its most famous victim is Stan Jones [en.wikipedia.org], who ran for Congress after having turned blue-grey.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6192-100x100.png\")
I usually blue myself
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-32179-100x100.png\")
This guy should be on the Paultard blimp...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-16978-100x100.png\")
Add head tentacles and he'd be a twilek.
Hey, is this a permanent condition, or if he stopped, would it go away or fade?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-168836-100x100.png\")
I don't know if I'd be that cheery if something turned me blue..
I think its pretty rude that the consumerist labels his condition as something from \"an odd gadget\" or \"infomercial\"
Also, he doesn't EXTRACT the silver in the water, it is from adding silver to the water.
But, correct information aside, it is allowed as a legal health supplement by the FDA, so I don't see why one man's condition is consumer related news.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-111512-100x100.png\")
\"He gets his silver fix by putting a device that extracts silver from water by running electricity through it.\"
No. Like the article says, he extracts silver FROM a metal source and puts it INTO the water.
It's not rude to make fun of Quacks and idiots for being Quacks and idiots.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-158727-100x100.png\")
as soon as I saw him...colloidal silver...yup...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-90793-100x100.png\")
I smurf you, colloidal silver!
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-21970-100x100.png\")
@1stage: AFAIK, it is not reversible. The silver is basically embedded/trapped in your skin.
On the other hand, I suppose it makes that layer of skin quite anti-bacterial...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-126961-100x100.png\")
@crnk: Would he have turned blue without the \"odd gadget\"?
And as to it not being \"consumer related news\" -- how's your consumer website doing these days?
I think this man is a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu (who is blue)!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-70968-100x100.png\")
1) He say's it's from rubbing that shit on his face, is he only blue there? [No minds in the gutter, please.
2) \"Paul Kerason's skin is a deep,... purple color\" Perhaps he should try coming out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline? /loves DP, sorry had to pick this song for its recognicibility purposes.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-202659-100x100.png\")
I just found out with this post that I can use my Gizmodo account to post on sites like this and LifeHacker.
Here I thought I had to create multiple accounts.
*checks silver prices*
dibs on his cremated remains
hmmm...billed as something that'll cure anything that ails you eh? I think I have something I want to sell to that guy, it's called gold plating your body. It is wonderful at keeping germs out and preventing communicable diseases. It also looks better than blue skin!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-260025-100x100.png\")
Gum chewing's fine when it's once in a while
It stops you from smoking and brightens your smile
But it's repulsive, revolting, and wrong
Chewing and chewing all day long
The way that a cow does
correction... it cures everything but blue skin
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6536-100x100.png\")
@crnk: *bludgeons your comment with a large mallet*
Maybe it wasn't from an infomercial but something that yanks silver from a metal source into water qualifies as \"an odd gadget\".
Also, it's BECAUSE it's allowed as a legal health supplement by the FDA that this is a consumer issue. He didn't come up with this on his own. He bought a product (making him a consumer) that turned his skin blue when he used it.
Paul moved to Madera about six months ago after living in Oregon. He says too many folks there weren't nice to him.
People gave him shit because his skin turned blue? Damn.
it must suck to have blue balls permanantly
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-4438-100x100.png\")
Once the kids get a hold of this it could be the new \"Goth\".
i think the color of the video is jacked. not saying he's not blue, but the low grade camera just makes it look worse.
I for one am ready to donate big bucks to the NAABP (National Association for the Advancement of Blue People).
someone get this man a blanket and a space heater.
is it just me, or does the camera add to his blue-ness. i'm just thinkin they turned up the blue on the camera to make it look more dramatic. this guy claims no one noticed? with the way it looks on camera, he must have never left the house. how could you not see it? unless like i said, the camera makes it look worse.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-106297-100x100.png\")
But what color does he turn when you choke him?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-2604-100x100.png\")
So people are selling toxic heavy metals as a health suppliment these days? What a time to be alive.
Where do I get one?
La la lalalala....
hi Papa Smurf!
@kc-guy: lol. if i was him i'd sit really still on my lawn chair in the front yard during winter, and see how many people i could freak out.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6766-100x100.png\")
Never like them Blue Coloreds. Always shuffling around, lazy, with their blue music and their blue language...having kids all the time....
football fans everywhere are going to ditch paint and move for this.
on a different note, paul karason is being sued by the blue-man group.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-43906-100x100.png\")
Specialized silver molecules do actually act as fantastic anti-bacterials, anti-fungis and anti-virals. Not sure if it works the same as drinking it but I don't think anyone can say 100%.
Also, silver is not toxic to humans, even in large quantities, unless you get shot with a silver bullet or drink a bunch of Silver Bullets.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1597-100x100.png\")
@num1skeptic: i'm pretty sure the folks at abc news would have pro gear; not quite \"low grade.\" these aren't handi-cams they use for this stuff. and look at the rest of the colours in there. nothing else looks blue-tinged.
@testsicles: great name, also, my question is since he has obviously overdosed (overtime) on this, wouldn't that be like taking antibiotics for 14 years? i mean your body will most likely build up a tolerance for it, making it that much worse if you do get sick.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-24730-100x100.png\")
Does he drive a blue Corvette and live in a blue house.
Da ba de, da ba die....
@nbenko: actually i thought they did look more blue during the interview. and i'm sure the camera costs more than my house, and therefore if they wanted to turn up the blue (only when he was on the screen) they could.
What an absolute retard. And he dare complain that people stare at him? He's blue! By his own fault! For drinking a WOO WOO PRODUCT. I seriously doubt that his little cure is as much of a cure-all than he claims.
Someone get Randi!
@num1skeptic: as far as I understand, the silver ions basically \"shred\" bacteria, fungi, virus, and maybe even cancer cells. The silver ions, if provided in sufficient quantity create something like 4 or 5 different reactions and processes in the cells. Therefore it's almost impossible to build up a resistance to it. A random mutation may get around 2 processes, or even 3 but a random mutation that perfectly adapts to 5 different processes the silver creates has almost a zero probability.
@gokor: i'm not arguing that he's blue, tard, just how blue is he really. that how could even he not notice, overtime or not, let alone friends, or clerks at stores he frequents.
i know its hard to let someone be a skeptic, and even harder to be on a thread without bashing someone, but quit looking for an arguement.
i'll save you some time, i win you lose, i'm right you wrong, my dad can beat up your dad, and no amount of insults you could hurl will ever change the way i feel. happy?
I would bet he's immune to skin cancer, he's got like a natural SPF 1000.
well we know what he's going to be for Halloween.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1176-100x100.png\")
Everyone knows drinking colloidal silver keeps your hair from turning gray, keeps you thin as a rail, and gives you 20/20 vision.
@num1skeptic:
Quite frankly I think he looks more like gray-dead than blue to me.
And I agree, a change is a change. He had to notice it by himself someday or he was really really blind.
\"Darling, don't you look a bit... corpsey this morning?\"
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-86677-100x100.png\")
Hmmm.. I think I could make this as a cure for lycanthropy...
Him wearing TWO blue shirts don't help the color issue in the video.
@num1skeptic: I don't know how long he'll live but I'd be surprised if he died from cancer or a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection.
i bet he can profit off of this somehow. talk show circuit or something.
@num1skeptic: The Papasmurf comedy hour? It Could Work, but I forsee a smurfing lawsuit in his future.
Seriously, Paul? You chose to wear a blue shirt for the interview? Enough's enough.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-78443-100x100.png\")
I saw this guy on my local news last night, and the funniest part of the whole thing is where he said that he got weird looks in Oregon, so he moved to Fresno.
FRESNO?
Anyone see a real life blue man's group coming up in about 14 years now?
i think he looks more grey than blue.
One of the choices to replace the Pope had this condition. He was popular, and while doing missionary work in Africa he had lost an arm and one eye in a plane crash.
But drinking colloidal silver turned his skin purple, destroying his chances to become the new Pope. No-one was ready for \"a one-eyed one-armed flying purple papal leader\".
Have some heart, or at least give the guy the heart he wants. And some oil......
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-230220-100x100.png\")
@King of the Wild Frontier: Stan Jones was awfully fun to follow in the news while he was running here, every article would basically take one paragraph to say he was a Libertarian and then the rest of the column to explain why he was blue. The Daily Show followed suit: Daily Show. Got to love Montana politics!
@uconn: Why wouldn't he? It's got known antibiotic properties, and the only real downside is it might turn you blue. What's he got to lose?
I take colloidal silver, too. Only, I don't have a freaky machine for making it. I buy it. And it's stupid expensive, so I'll swish a dropper's worth in my mouth, gargle it for a few seconds, and swallow.
The silver is antibacterial. Cures sore throat quicker than honey. Great for sinus infections, too, though it's not salinated, so it hurts a bit up in the sinuses.
A few drops every few weeks certainly won't turn you blue.
Colloidal silver isn't the problem. The abandonment of moderation seems to be at fault here...
Let's play how many \"Arrested Development\" references can we fit into a thread!!!
o/~
Yo listen up: here's a story
About a little guy
That lives in a blue world
And all day and all night and everything he sees is
Just blue like him inside and outside
Blue his house with a blue little window
And a blue Corvette and everything is blue for him
And himself and everybody around
'Cause he aint got nobody to listen: ...
I'm blue (da ba dee)
o/~
Sorry, couldn't resist....
(And you have to respect the music group who has their lead singer abducted by UFOs in the music video. :) )
OMG! SANTA TURNED BLUE!
i figured out that it is my monitor at work which is the reason the color looks gray. but, he looks worse everytime i look at it. how does that make sense?
If nobody is going to make a Beast joke, I'm going home.
\"Long-term use of silver preparations can lead to argyria, a condition in which silver salts deposit in the skin, eyes, and internal organs, and the skin turns ashen-gray.\"
\"FDA laboratory studies have found that the amount of silver in some product samples has varied from 15.2% to 124% of the amount listed on the product labels. The amount of silver required to produce argyria is unknown. However, the FDA has concluded that the risk of using silver products exceeds any unsubstantiated benefit\"
\"A 16-year-old boy developed blue-gray pigmentation of his entire body after ingesting a silver-containing dietary supplement for a year. The product, packaged so that it was identical to bottled water. was touted as a preventive for everyday infections\"
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-186777-100x100.png\")
@testsicles: Not to call you out or anything, but I can't find any conclusive studies on colloidal silver. The best I can find is the quote that dreamwriter just posted about how the FDA has concluded that the risks outweigh the rewards.
Also, he's too bald to be famous and too blue to join the blue man group- fresno is about the only option I can see :)
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-156571-100x100.png\")
@num1skeptic: Yeah, but then the 49ers fans would use carbon monoxide. Great for reddening your face, but it tends to rob you of oxygen...
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-46683-100x100.png\")
Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-9056-100x100.png\")
Ya know...I'm totally fine with turning blue.
SIGN ME UP!
Why did he blue himself? Because he could.
@m4ximusprim3: hey, I'm no silver expert. Silver ions prepared in a certain way (I'm not sure what exactly this is) do have anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties and possibly anti-cancer properties as well. That is they have them in petri-dishes and test conditions and when used as topical disenfectants. I have no idea whether drinking them has any benefits. I was stating my personal opinion in that I'd be surprised if he got skin cancer or a bacterial infection. I'm just saying.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-179419-100x100.png\")
@RagingTowers: I'd rather be green, but turning blue could certainly be interesting.
My aunt has used colloidal silver for some time to great (placebo?) effect when she has any major sinus issues pop up(hell, my ENT actually suggested it as an option for me once after surgery, said it'd speed up the healing), but only when needed, and is as pink as ever.
Maybe if I chug some CS and carrot juice every day I can turn green, then yell \"ZEKE SMASH\" whenever I get mad. That'd be great.
Actually, I've looked through the literature, and there is absolutely no reports that colloidal silver has any effect upon any type of cancer. As to whether someone like that is more or less likely to develop skin cancer...maybe a slight reduction, but probably not significant. And remember, they are talking about the effectiveness of ions against bugs. Two problems with that. The first is that ions can cause cancer. That's why anti-oxidants are seeing a huge increase in popularity. The second is that we need bugs. If the silver he's ingesting is killing off natural flora, that is not really a good thing. Limited use is probably okay, but I don't know that I would use this in large quantities or in the long term.
@salsableau I bet within 10 years, anti-oxidants will be shown to be about as useful as eating a live goldfish every morning.
Colloidal silver is great for topical bacteria killing. We know this. Same sort of thing as bleach.
But... ehrm... we don't drink bleach.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-207554-100x100.png\")
I wonder what would happen if he needed an MRI?
Ouch!
@supersally: Nothing. Silver isn't a ferrous metal, ergo it wouldn't exhibit magnetic attraction in an MRI.
@salsablaeu: And ions can dramatically increase the levels of free-radicals in the body. I was trying to keep things simple, as not alot of the people who read consumerist have a strong science background.
@CMOWIRE: Actually, anti-oxidants can be helpful, but not in the majority of things that are marketed to help. And while we may not drink bleach, our bodies do produce hypochlorite ions to fight off bacteria.
@duncanfj: I think most Consumerist readers are smart enough to understand how oxygen causes cancer.
Don't tell Michael Jackson.
He could get a job on the TV show \"King Of Cars\" and take over for the current Blue Genie who never sells any cars anyways.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-104457-100x100.png\")
I use a colliodial silver throat spray when I get a sore throat. It's unreal how fast it works & how much more effective it is than Chloroseptic, Vicks, etc.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-269263-100x100.png\")
this guy is now my icon. lol.
Yes, but again any antibacterial properties of silver are TOPICAL and not when ingested.
@tcabeen:
laffo you're one of \"them\"
He's like the gum-chewing girl in \"charlie and the chocolate factory\" that blows up into a giant blueberry after chewing the full-meal gum.
Or one of those villains on Star Trek.
I can't get this guy's face out of my mind, he is giving me nightmares. Please take his picture off the front page. AHHHHH
So one of my late old-lady relatives had this condition, just less dramatically. I think she had been given a drug (antibiotic?) containing a silver compound back in the day (sorry, don't really know the details). She had very fair skin and was just slightly bluish-grey all the time. Her hair also turned white when she was still quite young but I don't know if that was related.
I wonder if he's a NeverNude too.
14 years is a long time time to be taking CS.
I've been making own for 3 months, using it topically and drinking it. I think it's a near-panacea.
My question is; how much CS was Poppa Smurf drinking per day? There is such a thing as over-indulging.
It is interesting to note, however, that there has never been a case of Argyria reported from the use of electro-colloidal silver, free of salts or other impurities.
Argyria, while not being a deadly condition, certainly is undesirable. It is usually caused by the massive intake of silver salts, such as silver nitrate, silver sulfate, and silver chloride.
Hi Harold,
We address the Rosemary Jacobs disinfo story in the introductory notes to our book Silver, The Forgotten Antibiotic which came out in 1998. We even have a few articles put out by CNN in our Silver book II about her when she first appeared on the scene around 1997 I think.
Anyway, she's a shill for the pharmaceuticals and the AMA Quackbuster gang. She was a poor woman from either West Viginia or Kentucky, can't remember for sure off the top of my head. Now, she's a full time debunker against colloidal silver with a big web site. In the late 90's, the pharmaceuticlas were hauling her around to different doctor's conventions so she can tell her ghastly tale of the curse of colloidal silver. Do you think she did that without compensation? They , of course, got a big media campaign going behind her, so she her photo showed up in everything from JAMA to major magazines and newspapers.
The only problem is that she's being misleading and deceptive about her claim, while avoiding any legal liability. She and the people behind her want you to believe that the colloidal silver sold in health food stores, etc. caused her skin problem. That's not the case at all. She got her condition by taking nose drops of a PROTEIN compund (probably silver nitrate) that contained silver. It is correctly labeled Colloidal Silver Protein or CSP. It's very important to remember that little detail.
The CSP was prescribed to her by her licenced, orthodox medical doctor and she had to have a prescription to buy it from the drug store, since it was made by a pharmaceutical company. She took it for 35 years if my memory serves me. Since skin is made up of protein, it's possible for a protein compound containing silver to bond with her skin protein and leave deposits of silver. However, even for the very small percentage of people who use CSP, only a very small percentage actually get Argyria. The condition is EXTREMELY RARE.
The vast majority of people today are using colloidal silver and NOT colloidal silver protein or CSP. Colloidal silver simply contains submicroscopic particles of silver and distilled water and nothing else. It has NEVER been demonstrated that ordinary CS (colloidal silver) causes or can cause Argyria; only CSP can do that. But does Rosemary and the pharmaceutical hacks writing about her explain that to the reader?
They avoid the legal liability by repeatedly refering to Rosemary as having used CSP, without ever defining for the reader what \"CSP\" stands for. Cute huh?
This single woman, with drug company money behind her, has likely caused MILLIONS of people to back away from ever trying CS because most people can't think on their own feet and look to authority figures for advice. A single scare story like Rosemary's will win out 99% of the time over hundreds of positive testimonials lauding the benefits of CS. These people always resort to instilling FEAR as their number one method of debunking any type of alternative medicine.
Know thine enemy and Know the truth, for the Truth shall set you free.
So P. Dipwad Karason basically made hisself immortal (or so he thinks) by making himself immune to disease and infections. He's gonna live forever, which is an awfully long time to have the whole world point and laugh at you.
Sir, I don't think you have thought your cunning plan through.
STAY SICK!
TURN BLUE!
I think he is a cute Shiva manifestation. And with that smile what can you say. i guess you are so pragaarmmed you would rather face and communicate with 99% of our current American sufferers without the ability to even smile like that let alone be blue. And of course, I am about the only one out of a handfull of participants to dig into the issue scientifically. All you other idiots are just the very dumb Americans I am talking about. Live on Shiva Smurf, but, use distilled water when making Colloidal Silver, and thereby avoid silver nitrate, silver sulfate, and silver chloride. And, keep the micron size down: Long Live Colloidal Silver and curse the Pharmaceutical Trillion Dollar Rip off Industry...
What color does he turn after eating too many carrots?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-53017-100x100.png\")
@plumn: The more people who can be talked out of using an unproven and idiotic, woo woo \"treatment\", the more people we'll have who respect science and doctors. I can't see how that's a bad thing.
@plumn: So... you keep ragging on Rosemary Jacobs as a \"shill\" when you're shilling for your own book. You're a class act.
Hey Ive never been to this site before but I just have to tell you that I think you all need to give him a break. I grew up with this guy & he is super intelligent. He started taking this shit when he was caregiving for his dying parents in Bellingham WA. He is a very private person who doesn't like publicity at all. How the media got ahold of him is a mystery. He's private, kind AND blue.
Holy Star Trek! He's an Andorran!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-453882-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-140378-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-76503-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-135185-100x100.png\")
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-15106-100x100.png\")
This guy is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Colloidal silver turns people blue, period.