Prepared by
Rosmarie A. Faust, Ph.D.
Chemical Hazard Evaluation and Communication Group
Biomedical and Environmental Information Analysis Section
Health and Safety Research Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Prepared for
OAK RIDGE RESERVATION ENVIRONMENTAL
RESTORATION PROGRAM
*Managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract
No. DE-AC05-84OR21400
In humans, accidental or intentional ingestion of large doses of silver nitrate has produced corrosive
damage of the gastrointestinal tract, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, shock, convulsions, and death (U.S.
EPA, 1985). Respiratory irritation was noted following acute inhalation exposure to silver or silver
compounds. Silver nitrate solutions are highly irritating to the skin, mucous membranes, and eyes (Stokinger,
1981).
Ingestion, inhalation, or dermal absorption of silver may cause argyria, the most common indicator of
long-term exposure to silver or silver compounds in humans. Argyria is a gray or blue-gray, permanent
discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes that is not a toxic effect per se, but is considered
cosmetically disfiguring. Chronic inhalation exposure of workers to silver oxide and silver nitrate dusts
resulted in upper and lower respiratory irritation, deposition of granular silver-containing deposits in the eyes,
impaired night vision, and abdominal pain (Rosenman et al., 1979). Mild allergic responses have been
attributed to dermal contact with silver (ATSDR, 1990).
In long-term oral studies with experimental animals, silver compounds have produced slight thickening
of the basement membranes of the renal glomeruli, growth depression, shortened lifespan, and granular silvercontaining
deposits in skin, eyes, and internal organs (Matuk et al., 1981; Olcott, 1948, 1950). Hypoactivity
was seen in rats subchronically exposed to silver nitrate in drinking water (Rungby and Danscher, 1984).
there is a huge amount more about it. i could find nothing positive except from those who manufacture or sell it