4. Exposure to nanosilver

Silver has a rich history going back centuries, and has been used since antiquity for its antiseptic properties. The Chinese, in fact, practiced acupuncture with silver needles 2,700 years ago. Then, in the 4th century B.C., the Persians taught Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, that silver lining the inside of containers helped preserve food liquids such as water and wine. What's more, it was highly effective in healing wounds that were prone to infection, and silver in metal form did not appear to be harmful to health. At around the same time, Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, recommended ultra-fine silver powder for healing infected wounds in Greece. But it wasn't until 1869 that a French scientist, Ravelin, demonstrated that silver metal is a powerful bactericide that acts at low doses, especially when it's in a highly divided state of fine particles. Later, in 1897,...