Just as a heads up my wife had an Ultrasound yesterday and hey presto, no silver nitrate negative. a CD rom instead. Cheaper, simpler and no silver used at all/ I guess if the Ag price gets too high or unrealistic. People find a solution. And that market is lost forever. Phillip
They dont have a negative because they dont use film. The industry didnt cease to exist because of the price of silver, it ceased to exist because it was superceded by something better. ie a camera that can take hundreds of photos instead of 24 before being reloaded
its the very first time i have ever seen a medical image on a compact disc/ This is my 5th child, so i have seen plenty of ultrasounds. and the technology to do it and put it on a disc has been around for years. Silver has been removed from the medical loop or is being removed even as we speak. im only giving a heads up, you read it anyway you like. If you think its something evolutionary or otherwise, thats up to you, all i know is silver is being phased out in images in hospitals right now and the most relevant factor i can think of is Price.
From what I've read, the first thing that will swap out silver when it gets too expensive are rfid chips. There is an alternative in the works but it would take silver being well over 50 for quite a period of time for that to happen from my understanding.
Film containing silver has not been used in medical imaging for years. It has gone the way of the dodo and had nothing to do with the price of silver.
1 hard drive containing 100,000's of images or 1 room containing 1000's . Not a hard decision to make.
We are a tad behind down here. I should rephrase too, Medical usage of silver will boom. Eventually. Just a bit sad seeing a traditional silver market going/ finally gone.
Absolutely, but who cares in the end - some demand destruction is a natural consequence in any rising trend, REE are suffering demand destruction... BUT whether you like it or not REEs are an absolute must in technological advancement. Silver wont suffer badly from this type of demand destruction.
Digital imagery allows the xray to be viewed instantly and removes the need for film processing and all the associated chemicals and extra work. It's not that there is 50 cents worth of silver in the film.
Drop the use for silver in film (doesn't apply to medical only) - this has been a trend for a few years. Makes sense to go digital where possible/practical. Solar panels becoming more popular now. Demand drops in 1 place, increases in another. No biggie - we produce 1Bn t/oz silver a year, and consume more than we produce. Again a trend that's been going on a few years. Ultimately, we're going to run out/low. Only question is exactly when. Then bang.
Are you trying to say that it's use is being diminished? You are very wrong. For every new technology that disregards the use of silver, many more new applications are created. That is a fact. If you are trying to say that silver will no longer be used on large scale if the price rises, you are also incorrect. We use gold for many industrial applications regardless of its cost and have done so at a very high price for many decades. Silvers natural properties will ensure it many, many more long years in wide usage in the medical industry.
applications can be abundance but who will give the treatment to gain recovery when the alternative is the legal way. the future can be a very different palace.
For the amt that is used in films, another equivalent (or even more) is being used to make the CDs, the MRI machine, the circuitry, the hard-disk, the LCD panels etc etc.... =D
A large amount of silver is used in medical applications. This relates to it's natural antibacterial properties... This includes silver containing painted surfaces, silver in gloves and medical clothing, silver coated central lines that are also antibiotic impregnated to reduce infection rates. Silver nitrate is used to cauterize some bleeding areas such as nose bleeds, silver based creams and dressings for treating burns. There are new silver based chemotherapy agents being trialled also, a lot of current chemotherapy uses Platinum based agents... Still far more expensive than silver. Not to mention all the silver used in the large number of screens and electronic equipment... The rising rates of multi-resistant bacteria and infections and lack of new antibiotics coming to market is a huge concern and future problem in medicine. We may reach a point where we are very limited in what we can treat. Techniques and products that reduce infection risks will be very important... Silver is incorporated in a lot of these. But hospitals run on tight budgets and it is not inconceivable that silver based products may become cost prohibitive.
I saw a chart a few weeks ago of the uses of silver over the past 20 years. I browse so much I don;t know where I saw it now... However, the biggest(single) by far use was solar these days. There was an generic 'industrial' component of the bar chart which included electronics which was the largest, but there were too many uses lumped in to that bucket to see what else was in there. Medical looked to be below 5%. Solar panel use will eventually find a new element (watching slashdot headlines you see a new solar technique every second week) which will eventually free up plenty of supply.
