Why is silver so much different from most other metals in terms of human health risk?
The two components that constitute the basis for a health risk, toxicity (hazard) and exposure, are both very low for silver: silver is not associated with adverse health effects and overall exposure to silver is very low as well. A recent EPA report on the presence of metals at some non-hazardous waste management sites revealed that silver was, by far, the least encountered metal, both in terms of concentration and frequency of detection. Thus, silver has neither of the critical aspects (toxicity potential or appreciable exposure) which can create a health risk.
