“Copper Cure-all?”

Came across this amazing story in a recent issue of the technology magazine Red Herring: “Copper Cure-all?”.

It lists some amazing medicinal properties of Copper (“Taamba” in Hindi or “Tamra” in Sanskrit) which should not surprise most people of my generation who were taught as children that drinking water from copper vessels (and wearing it next to your skin) has beneficial effects.

Another example of ancient “wisdom” being proven right by modern “science”?

No doubt some of you will notice that there is no mention of use of copper in India in the opening paragraph.

Excerpts:

Could copper be the next miracle material? It’s been used for centuries for its metallurgic and antibacterial properties the ancient Egyptians used copper medical instruments in surgeries, and water was stored in copper pots to curb the growth of pathogens.

Today to the delight of the cosmetics industry, copper has been found to stimulate collagen production, and companies like Neutrogena and Neova have since integrated copper into skin creams for treating wrinkles.

But now, North Carolina and Israel-based Cupron has taken the concept a big step further and integrated the metal into fabric. Cupron incorporates copper ions into fibers that are then woven into cotton or synthetic  fabrics which are then made into pillow cases to smooth wrinkles, into socks to cure athlete’s foot, and into dressings for diabetics ores.

But there’s more, potentially much more. According to Dr. Gadi Borkow, the company’s chief medical officer, copper oxide has the ability to kill viruses like HIV; used as a filter for blood transfusions or in breast feeding, the spread of the virus could, in theory be prevented”. Copper is a wide-spectrum antiviral,” Dr. Borkow says. “It doesn’t only kill HIV-it kills all the viruses that we’ve been testing so far.”

Dr. Borkow first became involved with the company after Cupron CEO Jeff Gabbay came to him with copper-impregnated socks, which were supposed to help athlete’s foot. “[They] gave me the socks, and after two days, they got rid of my athlete’s foot!” he says still amazed, Mr. Gabbay had read about copper oxide’s antiviral properties and tapped Dr. Borkow, then an HIV research scientist at the Ruth Ben-Ari Institute of Clinical Immunology & AIDS Center at Hebrew University to develop HIV treatments with the metal.

…”

The article is written by Marisa Taylor and appears on Pg 21 of Red Herring issue dated 12.18.06 (18th Dec ’06)

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6 Responses

  1. Ayurveda can help in preventing AIDS by strengthening the body’s defence system through herbs and a supplementary code of conduct, doctors at a recent meeting of international policymakers on HIV said.

  2. Ryan says:

    Can copper kill parasites in the body please?

  3. Dr. Soumitra Kr. Choudhuri says:

    I also work on copper compexes. Discovered some ways to overcome drug resistance in cancer. Copper che3lates may show ways to overcome many diseases.

    You can find my publications in cancer-related journals.

  4. Soumitra K Choudhuri says:

    I have recently reported in Plos One (September, 209) that Copper chelate alters the behavior of Tumor Associated Macrophages and cures cancer through Th1 response.

  5. soumitra Choudhuri says:

    To reply to Rayn:

    Copper can kill parasites in the body.
    It depends on the kind and intensity of parisite infection.
    Some copper compounds have such properties. But indiscriminate use of copper sulphate or other commonly available compound should not be encouraged. The effect of copper compound, as research eplores is dose and time dependent. Therefore be cautious befoe application and take experts’ opinion.

  6. Padma Drago says:

    Copper may save you from ebola in an emergency. It is said that silver is better but copper also works. Just run a DC current through distilled or RO water with silver/copper electrodes, and drink the water.

    No need for ebola quarantines, just drink copper/silver/gold.