Silver colloid fought at Catholic Ansers/Family forum: any rebuttal?

If silver colloid increases Glutathione use by the body, why not just eat more beets/beet fiber? This posting at Catholic Answers Family Life forum says:

Colloidal Silver proponents claim their product is safe.

The people who promote Colloidal Silver claim their products are safe because their silver is "different." The people who promote silver proteins and metallic silver say the same thing about their products. Think about these claims in the context of the previous paragraph. Whether the silver enters the body as a colloid in suspension or as metallic silver or as integrated into a protein, the human body treats it the same way - as a foreign object made of a toxic heavy metal - and the removal process is the same.

Silver causes immune dysfunction

When the human immune and detoxification system encounters a heavy metal such as silver, it goes into overdrive in its attempt to detoxify and remove it, as described above. Glutathione, the primary detoxifying antioxidant, is utilized in this process. If the person has a chronic illness such as hepatitis C, the glutathione that had been utilized in detoxifying viral free radical toxins and killing viruses is now siphoned off into silver detoxification. The result could be a sudden progression of the disease, the exact opposite of what the silver proponents claim. This actually happened to one of my clients: he took Colloidal Silver and his hepatitis viral load and ALT and AST counts suddenly increased, indicating disease progression.

Silver is unnecessary

To put this debate more in perspective, even if it were safe, silver is also completely unnecessary. If people were to take sufficient vitamin C and other immune support nutrients, their immune systems would be strong enough to fight off most bacterial and viral attacks. People who take large quantities of vitamin C each day rarely get ill, and when they do the course of the illness is much shorter and milder. For extremely virulent diseases, there are much more powerful, potent, and less expensive natural Antibiotics and anti-viral agents that are completely safe that are derived from food and medicinal herbs.

Green tea extract, turmeric extract, oregano oil, and olive leaf extract are good examples of natural Antibiotics that also have other, health-promoting features. Both green tea extract and turmeric extract are also potent selective chemotherapeutic agents for cancer - they cause cancer cells to self-destruct - and they are also powerful anti-inflammatory aids. Oregano oil and olive leaf extract have been shown to effectively kill pathogenic bacteria, viruses, funguses, and protozoa such as malaria, and there is anecdotal evidence that they kill AIDS viruses.

This is one of the few times when I believe the government should act to ban a health "supplement." Silver is fine for coins and jewelry (although for earrings it should have a stainless steel hook for pierced ears). But silver compounds should not be sold in products that people consume. I believe silver is a clear and present danger to anyone who consumes it. Furthermore, having this "supplement" available provides ammunition for the drug companies and other anti-natural supplement forces for full FDA regulation of supplements, which would kill the entire natural supplement industry.

References:

Cutis 2000 Nov;66(5):373-4 Abstract quote

The onset of argyria following the use of dietary supplements containing colloidal silver protein is presented. The patient was using a silver-containing product for cold and allergy prophylaxis.

We review the past and present medicinal roles of silver and include a differential diagnosis for argyria. The hyperpigmentation of argyria is usually permanent, and it follows a sun-exposed distribution.

Dietl HW, Anzil AP, Mehraein P., Brain involvement in generalized argyria, Clinical Neuropathology 1984 Jan-Feb;3(1):32-6

Cutaneous argyria was diagnosed in a 59-year-old woman. Manic depressive psychosis developed at about the same or a short time thereafter. The patient died 6 years later from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. At autopsy silver deposits were seen in skin, mucous membranes, heart, kidney, and liver. In the central nervous system the leptomeninges and choroid plexuses contained silver granules.