Scientific Testing

Independent testing. Thirteen sets of independent tests are documented. Test labs include Daylen Laboratories, Alchem Laboratories, Lutheran Hospital, Wells Laboratories, Washington Medical School, and two university labs in Utah. Organism concentrations were commonly in the range of 108/ml. Exposure times to the microorganisms were in the range of 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

Organism kill percentages typically exceeded 99% and were more often in the range of 99.999% or higher in 30 seconds. Microbial counts on human hands (30 subjects) were typically reduced from 106 to 103–104 (100x–1000x lower). Tests with herpes simplex virus in the perineal region of 20 subjects showed lesions were abated in all 20 within one week.

Microbial activity. Organisms commonly tested include E-coli, staphylococcus aureus, pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella choleresis, herpes viruses 1 and 2, and type-A influenza. Controlled lab tests include standard kill-time tests, phenol coefficient tests, inhibition-zone growth tests, and standard glove-exposure tests.

Silver absorption by skin. "Argyria" is the graying of skin by silver absorption. Technical data suggests that a gram of silver absorption on the skin is required for argyria to occur. Analysis shows that for 30 minutes of direct contact per day with 10 ml of chelated silver, nearly 200 years would be required to reach a gram of absorbed silver. Multiple test subjects have used the product continuously for over two years with no evidence of skin graying. During a two-year test period, there were no reports of skin graying.

Product stability (shelf life). The biocidal activity of the product was tested after two years of storage. A 10% loss of in-solution ionic silver was noted. Kill-time tests still showed 99.995% bacteria kill. A shelf life of eighteen months is conservatively claimed for Silver Soft™, and longer periods of shelf life are being documented.