AcryMed also recently announced FDA approval of its product SilvaGard, a silver-nanotechnology coating to protect medical devices from bacteria. The company stated, “Ionic silver has been long recognized and used as a highly effective antimicrobial.”2
Covalon is a manufacturer that has introduced an antimicrobial silver-ion releasing, collagen-based sheet dressing for wound care. In January 2006, the president of the company is quoted as having said, “In the wound dressings market, silver dressings growth outperforms all others in the category.”3
Curad and Johnson & Johnson bandages are now available to the consumer with ionic silver actually impregnated into the gauze so as to destroy bacteria.4 In the medical field, another company, AgION has stated that, “Today silver is a key ingredient in new high-tech, powder coated finishes that hospitals and doctors’ offices are using to protect walls, counters and other germ-gathering surfaces.”
Others are jumping on the bandwagon. Samsung recently introduced a clothes-washing machine that they claim kills 99% of bacteria in cold water by using ionic silver.5 Sharper Image has a line of slippers and pillows that have ionic silver incorporated into the fabric to prevent odor-causing bacteria. Containers for food storage are now being impregnated with ionic silver to prevent bacterial growth that contributes to spoilage.
Writing pens, bath mats, cutting boards, and door knobs are being coated with ionic silver to prevent bacteria from being spread. Water-treatment facilities that service hospitals use silver ions. And that is still just the tip of the iceberg. The list goes on and on, and is growing faster every week.
