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Silver-tongued mayor's anthrax 'cure' rebutted
©Associated Press
November 24, 2001
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS -- The Town Council of this Central Florida community of 956 residents is telling citizens to ignore the mayor's touting of a silver-laced liquid as a cure for anthrax.
The town newsletter this week attempts to set the record straight about Mayor Greg Bittner's view of colloidal silver.
"As a follow-up to last month's Council Talk regarding Mayor Bittner's recommendation of colloidal silver as treatment for anthrax and a host of other ailments, the Town Council of Howey-in-the-Hills does not endorse or encourage the use of colloidal silver," it said.
Last month, amid fears of terrorism-spread anthrax, Bittner told council members that colloidal silver -- an elixir of metallic silver particles in demineralized water -- can "offset the impact of anthrax."
He expounded further in the newsletter.
"A simple solution of colloidal silver is effective in killing over 600 pathogens that can be introduced to the human body and doesn't harm the host (patient)," the mayor wrote.
Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission officials begged to differ.
They said colloidal silver is not a cure-all and pointed out that a ban on marketing it as a remedy for any disease, with a warning that it can it turn human skin permanently blue and gray, was put in place two years ago.
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