#borax and boron are not the same thing

[seventytwoowls]

you guys will be like "I can't believe we were forced to take chemistry in school!" and then eat borax

[queenofcthulu]

So I grew up around the area where they mine Borax, in Boron, California for 20 Mule Team Borax. I have cursory knowledge of it as my great grandfather worked in the mines and a number of great uncles lived in that dinky town in the Mojave desert. Borax forms naturally from some evaporated lakes the same way many mineral deposits do including table salt. Concerns about contamination with arsenic, I would say probably not they are pretty good about separating these days and most arsenic is found in different locations closer to geothermal lu active areas.

So Borax is a type of borate, an oxygen based molecule with Boron. Most borates are considered as deadly as table salt in humans. Which is to say, if they were tasty we would probably eat them more.

They are in fact very deadly to arthropods and are often used as a non-toxic pesticide. The few deaths attributed to Borax were due to infants consuming roach poisons in the 1960s (also during a time of a lot of lead paint being used in homes so I would personally consider that a potential contributor).

The most dangerous part of Borax is probably just inhaling the dust as it is a mild irritant to the lungs.

Working in a Boron mine is where I personally think probably where most of the hazards and concerns for health may come from, seeing as most reports were from the 1960s and that's before most of the work was automated and proper safety masks existed. Anecdotally, my great grandparents lived up to their late 80s and early 90s and even so it was probably the chain smoking that got them first.

Anyways the point is that a spoonful of Borax will most likely result in a little tummy ache or diarrhea, the borates are absorbed extremely quickly and filtered into urine without hanging around in the body so these people probably expel all of it within a day.

It might hang around in the bones a bit but there's no adverse effects from this that we know about.

Essentially, it's mostly harmless, far less dangerous than eating a tide pod, but still unnecessary and weird. I'm personally glad they aren't ingesting any number of other more dangerous things.

If these folks are eating other forms of Boron they may be in more danger, but if it's the 20 Mule Team Borax (the most readily available form) they should be fine. That doesn't mean I endorse doing this; by no means should you consume Borax as it's not rated by governing bodies for human consumption, and long term ingestion can slowly develop long term digestion problems and headaches.

watching people on tiktok consume borax is uh. something.

[wayward-writers]

Where do soulless people go when they die you ask? I have 3 ideas for that.

The first is that the person's body is just a husk with the shadow of a soul, and when the body ceases to function the shadow returns to the soul, whether that is heaven, hell, or Amara. Think of it as a return to sender type thing. I think I might have heard something before where it talks about the soul having different parts, and this shadow could be one of them. It would also be an interesting thing to dive into the different areas of the soul, what each means and what power they hold, and even Angel's and demon's perception of them. This also works on the principle that someone's body is just a vessel created to house a soul. Maybe the vessels slowly break down because they can't hold the souls too well and that's how aging happens? Who knows?

The second idea is that the remains of what that person once was is not considered human enough to go to heaven or hell. Maybe the universe decides to put them in with the rest of the "monsters" in purgatory. Maybe they are seen as monsters because a monster took their soul, and so they are a monster too now? Like a vampire biting a person and turning them into a vampire too, but instead taking their soul.

And with purgatory, do monsters have souls in the same sense that humans do? I think that, if following the idea that there are separate parts of the soul, monsters have either an added part of a soul or are missing part of it. This would probably depend on what type of monster. And we heard that Benny died or something in season 15, so where do you go if you die in purgatory? Either reincarnation or the empty would be my guess.

The third idea is that they do go to the empty because Angels dont have souls either and demons are husks of what souls they once were. Maybe the people without souls would go where the other creatures without souls are.

All of this is kinda what I think could work with soulless people, but it might not end up fitting with the rest of the lore in the rewrite. I'm just hoping it helps, or gives you the right direction to start with.

[Its always fun to think about the metaphysics and if it helps people write, that's a plus!]

💙💙💙

Not to swear on main, but holy shit this is awesome. (Have I told you you’re my new best friend yet?) 

I really like this idea! I think we should definitely explore the soul having different parts, that's honestly so interesting and would solve a lot of problems! I also really like the idea of vessels breaking down, and that being what ageing is. 

Ooooh wait Purgatory could be a viable solution. I've always thought that monsters have souls, but they also have this sort of animalistic instinct to them. One that they have to learn how to push past, and some of them do! (Like Garth!) Maybe this could be the extra part of the soul you were talking about?

But yeah... monsters dying in Purgatory is one of the many 😬😬 things about Spn lore. Both reincarnation and the Empty would be fun, but then what's the point of Purgatory, you know? Maybe it was only originally supposed to be for Leviathans, who kind of can't die? Except for borax? Which is primarily made from oxygen, sodium, and boron? (And since we know neither salt nor the air hurts them, it has to be the boron.) (Which can literally be found in fruit, nuts, and greens lol.) (Apples?! Since Eve made them?!)

Sorry I got excited lol. Chemistry is kind of my thing.

But soulless peeps going to the Empty would also work! In some cases, a soul wouldn't be able to go to Heaven, (ex. Amara consumes them), so the piece of a person’s soul that’s left wouldn't be able to reunite with the rest of it, right? But then again souls are essentially energy, and energy can neither be created or destroyed... (expect childbirth?) (Who knows lol, there lot’s to work out.)

But yes thank you so much! It really did help!

[It really is lol. @walksinstarllight (tagging you so you definitely see this post), and I have been working on a lot of the metaphysics, and you actually answered some of our questions, and gave us possible solutions to problems!]

Thank you for the ask!

[from-carolina-to-california]

Day 21 | Backtracking to Vegas

We woke up early, and soon were on the road to Vegas, on yet another monotonous desert highway. After a while, we spied a sign for a town called Boron. We could see a huge industrial complex in the distance to our left, and we began to speculate if this was where Borax was made. After a few minutes, we were proven right as a sign for the "twenty mule team museum" flashed by. I joked that we should stop to look at some cleaning powder museum, but Ariel took it at face value and convinced me to stop.

After we parked the car, we were distraught to learn we had missed Sandy's birthday party.

The museum was small but full of authentic odds and historical ends. It smelled of Borax, old things, and history.

We briefly checked out the house next door, whose yard had a few soveneirs from the nearby Edwards AFB parked on the lawn.

However, noone was home at the building, so we moved on. But before we left the town, we stopped at a local rock shop, and picked up a piece of serpentine. The man and woman in the store had an encyclopedic knowledge of rocks and minerals, as well as their chemical compositions and locations. I nearly asked how they knew so much, but quickly shut my mouth when I remembered we were in a mining town.

After that, it was a long, dull drive through the Mojave Desert. We wanted to wait to eat, but were forced to get Del Taco before we cannibalized each other. We ended up traveling through the I-15 mountain pass, Primm, and Jean, as well as passing signs for Nipton and Searchlight. Those towns are slightly special to me as a big Fallout: New Vegas fan.

We stopped in a Vegas Walmart, taking care to avoid the Strip. While we were provisioning, we decided to get the oil change in consideration of the thousands of miles we had quickly piled on the car. We had planned to walk around the strip mall, but retreated back into the air conditioning of Walmart.

It was still a good 98° at 4:30 in the evening.

After that, we still had some time till nightfall, so we visited a dog supplies wholesale store. I found a single solitary cat that had its photo on the panoply of dog photos that decorated the walls.

I also found a picture of a dog that looked very like my dog... also with the same name. Spookily coincidental.

We had already missed the deadline for dam tours as we were driving through the desert, so we planned to camp in Lake Mead Recreation Area and take the dam tomorrow morning.

The winds had been picking up as the evening progressed, and I had just received a wind alert on my phone as we pulled into the campsite. Setting up a tent in 20mph winds is not fun, and eventually we were forced to pitch in on the concrete in the lee of the car.

Ariel and I were craving flavor that night after a steady weeks-long diet of pasta and canned meat. I bought some ghost pepper chips and she bought a bag of lemons.

She peeled and ate her lemons with sugar while I coughed through my chips and drank copious amounts of water while the wind and dust licked at us.

We retired to the flapping tent and quickly dozed off.

[marybromley]

How to Get Rid of Creeping Charlie with Borax

Does your yard have creeping Charlie weed? This can be a problem, especially if the weeds are too much. 

Creeping Charlie is scientifically known as glechoma hederacea. This weed tends to grow in moist and shady areas. 

People in the US once used Creeping Charlie as a ground cover. When it started spreading, they noticed that it was a pest and stopped using it.

If you leave it unattended, it will spread to other parts of your lawn. You can remove this weed using your hands if the problem is minor. 

However, if your yard has developed a lot of this weed, the best solution is to use Borax.

How to get rid of creeping Charlie with Borax is simple if you follow the right steps. 

How can you identify Creeping Charlie?

It’s easy to identify Creeping Charlie because its leaves have a unique coin shape and rounded-toothed edges. They also have an aromatic scent and are members of the mint family.

You will love using Borax because it is not harmful to humans as it is to these weeds.

Let’s learn more about Borax.

Borax – The Natural Weed Killer

Borax can permanently eliminate creeping Charlie from your yard. The best thing about it is that it is a natural weed killer. 

You want to be extra careful about how much you use. If you use too much of it, you risk destroying your lawn. 

While Borax is effective in killing Creeping Charlie it is not as effective for other types of weed. 

Borax is made of sodium tetraborate with a composition of mineral salt, white crystalline, and Boron. When you use Borax on weeds, the weeds get more Boron than they need, and this kills them. 

How effective this weed killer works will depend on how much Boron the soil contains. The more Boron in the soil, the faster the Creeping Charlie dies. Consider testing your soil for it.

Steps to Using Borax on Creeping Charlie

The best time to apply Borax on your Creeping Charlie is during the spring season. Here is what you need to do while applying Borax on the Creeping Charlie.

– Take half a cup of warm water and add 10oz. of Borax 

– Add 2 ½ gallons of water, mix them well to dissolve the Borax

– Pour mixture into a sprayer that attaches to a garden hose. You want to make enough to cover 1,000 square feet of area of your lawn.

–  If you need to treat a smaller area, you will want to prorate smaller amounts when measuring the water and Borax.

– Always wear protective clothing including long pants, face mask, gloves, goggles, shoes, and long-sleeved shirts before you start spraying.

– Spray this mixture directly in the area affected by creeping Charlie. 

It is considered good lawn care practice to spray this mixture during the springtime when there’s no rain. However, when the weed is actively growing during the fall, you want to treat the weeds with the Borax at that time. 

Whether in the spring or fall, when you do apply the treatment you want to make sure that you use it on a day that is not expecting any rainfall.  Allow for at least 48 hours of clear weather to apply the mixture. Otherwise, the rain may wash away the Borax and will dilute the solution and not kill out the weeds. 

What should you expect?

You need only use the Borax mixture once a year to kill Creeping Charlie. Remember to use it for two consecutive years for great results. 

However, it is essential to note that you need to test the soil to determine how much Boron is already in the soil. If your lawn has the amount of Boron necessary, then you don’t need to apply a lot of Borax.

After the first week of applying Borax, you should see the leaves begin to brown. Don’t be startled when you notice light browning on the high grass of your lawn after applying Borax. That’s normal, and the grass will recover with time.

Avoid applying too much Borax as that might be harmful to other plants. Use the recommended amount.

Don’t over-apply this weed killer in your lawn once you start noticing results. It might create dead patches in your yard. When this happens, your garden will need reseeding.

Once you get rid of Creeping Charlie, remember to practice good lawn care so that this stubborn weed will not return. 

Proper lawn care will encourage the growth of turfgrass. This grass discourages the growth of Creeping Charlie. Also, make sure that your lawn receives enough sunlight by pruning your trees selectively. 

Maintain the grass in your lawn not to exceed 3 inches in height. Apply fertilizer and water frequently to keep it healthy.

Tips for using Borax

Are you having trouble mixing the Borax? Use a blender and mix it for 30 seconds until the content mixes well. Do not use a blender that you use for food preparation. Maybe an old blender would work.

You need to apply Borax uniformly in the affected areas. To achieve this, consider using a spray bottle that can hold up to 3 cups of the solution. 

Remember that this spray bottle should spray a lawn measuring 62 square feet

As mentioned earlier, Borax stays in the soil for quite some time, so you should reapply it after one year at the same time. Should Creeping Charlie come back to your lawn after you are done with the treatment, then consider removing the weeds manually.

This weed spreads quickly underground in a wide area. So while treating it you want to spray a slightly wider area beyond the affected region. If you are treating a smaller area, use a lesser amount of Borax to avoid over-applying it.

Proactively maintaining your lawn will keep Creeping Charlie and other weeds away. Treat your yard as soon as you notice this weed.  For maintenance remember to reapply the Borax mixture after one year at the same time.

The post How to Get Rid of Creeping Charlie with Borax appeared first on Weed Killer Guide.

How to Get Rid of Creeping Charlie with Borax published first on https://weedkillerguide.tumblr.com/

[weedkillerguide]

How to Get Rid of Creeping Charlie with Borax

Does your yard have creeping Charlie weed? This can be a problem, especially if the weeds are too much. 

Creeping Charlie is scientifically known as glechoma hederacea. This weed tends to grow in moist and shady areas. 

People in the US once used Creeping Charlie as a ground cover. When it started spreading, they noticed that it was a pest and stopped using it.

If you leave it unattended, it will spread to other parts of your lawn. You can remove this weed using your hands if the problem is minor. 

However, if your yard has developed a lot of this weed, the best solution is to use Borax.

  How to get rid of creeping Charlie with Borax is simple if you follow the right steps. 

  How can you identify Creeping Charlie?

It’s easy to identify Creeping Charlie because its leaves have a unique coin shape and rounded-toothed edges. They also have an aromatic scent and are members of the mint family.

You will love using Borax because it is not harmful to humans as it is to these weeds.

Let’s learn more about Borax.

  Borax – The Natural Weed Killer

Borax can permanently eliminate creeping Charlie from your yard. The best thing about it is that it is a natural weed killer. 

You want to be extra careful about how much you use. If you use too much of it, you risk destroying your lawn. 

While Borax is effective in killing Creeping Charlie it is not as effective for other types of weed. 

Borax is made of sodium tetraborate with a composition of mineral salt, white crystalline, and Boron. When you use Borax on weeds, the weeds get more Boron than they need, and this kills them. 

How effective this weed killer works will depend on how much Boron the soil contains. The more Boron in the soil, the faster the Creeping Charlie dies. Consider testing your soil for it.

  Steps to Using Borax on Creeping Charlie

The best time to apply Borax on your Creeping Charlie is during the spring season. Here is what you need to do while applying Borax on the Creeping Charlie.

– Take half a cup of warm water and add 10oz. of Borax 

– Add 2 ½ gallons of water, mix them well to dissolve the Borax

– Pour mixture into a sprayer that attaches to a garden hose. You want to make enough to cover 1,000 square feet of area of your lawn.

–  If you need to treat a smaller area, you will want to prorate smaller amounts when measuring the water and Borax.

– Always wear protective clothing including long pants, face mask, gloves, goggles, shoes, and long-sleeved shirts before you start spraying.

– Spray this mixture directly in the area affected by creeping Charlie. 

It is considered good lawn care practice to spray this mixture during the springtime when there’s no rain. However, when the weed is actively growing during the fall, you want to treat the weeds with the Borax at that time. 

Whether in the spring or fall, when you do apply the treatment you want to make sure that you use it on a day that is not expecting any rainfall.  Allow for at least 48 hours of clear weather to apply the mixture. Otherwise, the rain may wash away the Borax and will dilute the solution and not kill out the weeds. 

What should you expect?

You need only use the Borax mixture once a year to kill Creeping Charlie. Remember to use it for two consecutive years for great results. 

However, it is essential to note that you need to test the soil to determine how much Boron is already in the soil. If your lawn has the amount of Boron necessary, then you don’t need to apply a lot of Borax.

After the first week of applying Borax, you should see the leaves begin to brown. Don’t be startled when you notice light browning on the high grass of your lawn after applying Borax. That’s normal, and the grass will recover with time.

Avoid applying too much Borax as that might be harmful to other plants. Use the recommended amount.

Don’t over-apply this weed killer in your lawn once you start noticing results. It might create dead patches in your yard. When this happens, your garden will need reseeding.

Once you get rid of Creeping Charlie, remember to practice good lawn care so that this stubborn weed will not return. 

Proper lawn care will encourage the growth of turfgrass. This grass discourages the growth of Creeping Charlie. Also, make sure that your lawn receives enough sunlight by pruning your trees selectively. 

Maintain the grass in your lawn not to exceed 3 inches in height. Apply fertilizer and water frequently to keep it healthy.

Tips for using Borax

  Are you having trouble mixing the Borax? Use a blender and mix it for 30 seconds until the content mixes well. Do not use a blender that you use for food preparation. Maybe an old blender would work.

You need to apply Borax uniformly in the affected areas. To achieve this, consider using a spray bottle that can hold up to 3 cups of the solution. 

Remember that this spray bottle should spray a lawn measuring 62 square feet

As mentioned earlier, Borax stays in the soil for quite some time, so you should reapply it after one year at the same time. Should Creeping Charlie come back to your lawn after you are done with the treatment, then consider removing the weeds manually.

This weed spreads quickly underground in a wide area. So while treating it you want to spray a slightly wider area beyond the affected region. If you are treating a smaller area, use a lesser amount of Borax to avoid over-applying it.

Proactively maintaining your lawn will keep Creeping Charlie and other weeds away. Treat your yard as soon as you notice this weed.  For maintenance remember to reapply the Borax mixture after one year at the same time.

  The post How to Get Rid of Creeping Charlie with Borax appeared first on Weed Killer Guide.

[ntrending]

How to make your own laundry detergent

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent/

How to make your own laundry detergent

Warning: you might get sucked into actually liking doing laundry. (Pixabay/)

Everyone wears clothes, everybody’s clothes get dirty, and even though you hate it, everyone needs to do laundry. And unless you’re fortunate enough to have a washer and dryer at home, washing your clothes may be more than annoying—it can also be expensive.

If this is your situation, or you simply enjoy making things from scratch—because why not—you can try making your own laundry detergent. Just as effective with your dirty socks as whatever you buy in stores, it is not only easy to make and incredibly cheap, but can also be hypoallergenic, custom-scented, and environmentally friendly.

It’s important to note that you’ll need a lot of containers for the finished product. DIY laundry detergent is a go-big-or-go-home kind of deal, yielding up to 2 gallons per batch. You said you wanted some savings, right?

What you’ll need

Ingredients

½ cup <a href=”https://amzn.to/2Y3veMX” rel=”nofollow” title=””>borax</a>

1 bar of soap

½ cup <a href=”https://amzn.to/2XVy5s5″ rel=”nofollow” title=””>sodium carbonate</a>

2 gallons of water

1 ounce of essential oils (optional)

Tools

Large bucket (must hold more than 2 gallons)

Preparation time

About 20 minutes (plus 24 hours of resting)

The soap

Most people use the classic Fels-Naptha soap, which is cheap and good with dirt: you can get a 5.5-ounce bar for as low as $0.99.

Fels-Naptha contains coconut acid, palm acid, and tallow acid, all fatty acids that act as emollients and surfactants. These two types of compounds allow water and oil to combine, attracting dirt directly from the fibers of your clothes, pulling it into the water to be rinsed away.

Originally, Fels-Naptha contained benzene, a strong dissolvant that originally gave the soap its fame back when it was introduced in the late 1800s. But benzene is a chemical compound derived from petroleum that is both carcinogenic and—you guessed it—not the best thing to have soaking into the environment. The soap was reformulated, but even though it no longer contains benzene, it still isn’t entirely eco-friendly.

If you want to go with the greenest version of this recipe, you can use the same amount of pure castile soap. This type of soap has been around for centuries and is traditionally made out of vegetable oils (such as olive, palm, or coconut oil), water, and lye, and it is organic and safe. Pure castile soap is a little more expensive than Fels-Naptha, but still cheap enough to make it an excellent choice—you can find it for as little as $1.25 for a 4-ounce bar.

Borax

Borax is a water soluble salt derived from boron and one of the classic ingredients in laundry detergents, known for its powers of disinfection and whitening. It is a white, crystalized powder you can easily find in supermarkets and online for around $5. Borax cuts through grease and helps loosen soil and stains, which is why it is not only used in laundry detergent, but in other kinds of cleaners as well.

Borax is a natural compound, but it is also a cleaning agent you want to handle with caution. You don’t want to inhale or ingest it, so we strongly suggest you cover your nose and mouth while using it. Still, borax is not toxic when used in low concentrations as a cleaning product.

In this case, borax concentration reaches up to only 0.5 grams per load, which is safe for you and your clothes.

Sodium carbonate

Another classic ingredient of household cleaning products, sodium carbonate is also known as washing soda or soda ash. A cousin to baking soda, sodium carbonate works as a bleach substitute and neutralizes odors. The most common branded version of this compound is Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, which you can find for as low as $4.12 for a 55-ounce box.

Washing soda also acts as a water softener, meaning it eliminates elements such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and other minerals that make water “hard.” These elements are not only rough on your clothes, but also on your machine, since they tend to build up inside it. Eighty-five percent of people in the U.S. have hard water, so washing your clothes with detergent that contains compounds such as sodium carbonate means a longer and better life for both your pipes and your washing machine.

Make it smell good (if you want)

You may never want to stop smelling your fresh laundry. But you’ll have to. Because you need to live. (Deposit Photos/)

There are people who buy their laundry detergent not because of its cleaning power or how environmentally friendly it is, but just because “It smells nice.” If this is not you, feel free to skip this step. But if it is, this is where you can get creative. You can add up to 1 ounce of any combination of essential oils to the mix to make it smell exactly as you like.

Just keep in mind that the more essential oils you add, the stronger the scent of your detergent will be. Also, adding essential oils will make it less-suited for delicate skins, so if you’re washing baby clothes or are extremely sensitive, either skip the scent or keep it to the bare minimum.

Stir things up

Grate the soap into a large pot and dissolve it in 6 cups of hot water. Put it on the stove and heat it on medium for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly until the soap completely dissolves. Don’t let it get too hot—you only want to help the blending process.

You’ll need 2 gallons of warm water in total, but you’re not going to pour it all at once. First, fill your bucket with 13 cups of water, then pour in the melted soap and stir.

Put on some gloves and cover your mouth and nose—use a surgical mask or any kind of cotton fabric, such as a bandana—when you add the borax and sodium carbonate. This will thicken the mix, so stir well to make sure everything is blending properly.

Pour the rest of the water into the bucket four cups at a time as you continue to stir. If the mix gets too thick, you can use an immersion blender. Make sure to wash the tool thoroughly afterward so there’s no risk of getting any detergent in your food.

If you want to add scent to your laundry detergent, this is your chance. Add up to 1 ounce of the essential oil(s) of your choosing and stir to blend.

Cover your bucket and let it sit for 24 hours. After that, the mixture will look like a gel with a lumpy consistency, but despair not—the soap will dissolve easily in the washing machine if you give it a little shake before using it.

If you think the detergent is too thick, you can always add more water. Just keep in mind that the less concentrated it is, the less cleaning power it will have. For large loads, just use one cup of detergent.

And finally, since you’re probably not used to having a lot of detergent bottles at home at once, remember to store both the detergent and the remainder of the ingredients away from children and pets.

Written By Sandra Gutierrez G.

[gethealthy18-blog]

Is Borax Safe to Use for Natural Cleaning?

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/is-borax-safe-to-use-for-natural-cleaning/

Is Borax Safe to Use for Natural Cleaning?

It may be natural, but is borax safe? This is a question I’ve tackled before but is worth another look as it is in the news more than ever.

No longer just a cleaner our grandmothers used, borax is enjoying new popularity as a wonder ingredient for natural cleaning. It’s found in many recipes for homemade cleaners, or for preserving homemade beauty products. It is also a primary ingredient in my popular all-purpose cleaner and laundry detergent. What’s more, it’s a common ingredient in the many of the homemade slime recipes so many of our kids love.

Since I continue to get lots of questions about the safety of borax, let’s take a fresh look at the controversy and see how it stacks up.

What Is Borax?

Borax, of the mule team variety, is sodium tetraborate or sodium borate (to get all official for a second) and NOT boric acid (hydrogen borate).

Sodium tetraborate (hereafter referred to as borax) is a salt of boric acid but it is not chemically the same. This is a common misconception on the Internet, apparently, and if you’ve read an article claiming it is dangerous that goes on about the dangers of boric acid or says they are the same thing, I would not consider that article credible.

Of special concern is whether or not borax is safe to use around children, since many times young children are crawling on (or, let’s face it, licking) surfaces that may have been cleaned with borax.

Another reason borax has been in the news lately is its use as a main ingredient in homemade slime recipes. Natural or not, borax isn’t meant to be eaten at any time and there is always a chance of harm (even with careful supervision) when kids are using household chemicals. Caution is definitely warranted and this is one reason we use a borax-free slime recipe just in case.

Borax vs. Boric Acid vs. Sodium Borate

All of these are used as natural pesticides, which is probably the reason for the misconception that they are the same. However, boric acid carries a risk for toxicity at a much lower dose than borax does if ingested.

Borax is used in the process of making boric acid, but there is a tremendous chemical difference between the two. Borax is a naturally occurring mineral, though of course, that doesn’t make it inert or safe either. (Arsenic is a naturally occurring metalloid but it isn’t safe for human use. Natural doesn’t always mean safe.)

Why does this matter? It matters because the studies used to back up the safety (or danger) of borax often use boric acid, or are often ambiguous about which was used.

The product safety data also combines borax and boric acid, making it is unclear which substance the various warnings pertain to. These cautions read like:

This product is white, odorless, crystalline powder. Direct contact with eyes may cause severe irritation with redness, pain, blurred vision, and possibly corneal injury. Repeated or prolonged excessive exposure with skin can result in irritation.

No chronic health effects are expected from the intended use of these products or from foreseeable handling of them in the workplace. Nonetheless, the following effects have been reported for a component, sodium borate, and boric acid. Sodium borate upon entry into the body becomes boric acid. Sodium borate and boric acid interfere with sperm production, damage the testes and interfere with male fertility when given to animals by mouth at high doses.

Note that these menacing-sounding warnings relate mainly to skin contact, eye contact, or when it was “given ..by mouth at high doses” in animal studies.

You know what else can irritate the eyes and skin and even cause digestive problems at high doses? Vinegar or oregano essential oil (caused a cornea burn in my mother in law), and probably cayenne pepper too. That doesn’t mean that those things aren’t safe but just that that we must use them safely.

Borax Safety Hazards & Precautions

Borax is extremely alkaline, which makes it irritating when used undiluted. It makes sense not to use any form — borax, sodium borate, or boric acid — as an eyewash or skin scrub. You should also never drink or ingest it in any way.

However, this still doesn’t answer the question about if occasional indirect contact (in things like cleaning products) is safe.

Here’s the full material data safety sheet if you want some light reading.

That data sheet does give it a safety rating of “1” which is the same as baking soda and salt. (I wouldn’t recommend putting those in your eye or rubbing large amounts on the skin constantly or ingesting large amounts daily either.)

The Environmental Working Group lists borax as a safety rating of 5-6, though again, the studies used contained both borax and boric acid and the warnings referred to ingestion, eye contact, or long-term undiluted use.

What About Boron?

As with so many things in the health world, there is a flip side to the concerns. Boron is a trace element (atomic number 5) and a fascinating character (because I am a dork and easily fascinated by chemistry). It turns out, there is a biological need for boron in small amounts. Studies show boron plays a key role in healthy cell membrane functions and is especially important for bone health.

Side note: The boron family may be considered non-toxic to humans in lower amounts, but these products are more dangerous to insects (thus their use as a pesticide):

In biology, borates have low toxicity in mammals (similar to table salt), but are more toxic to arthropods and are used as insecticides. Boric acid is mildly antimicrobial, and a natural boron-containing organic antibiotic is known. Boron is essential to life. Small amounts of boron compounds play a strengthening role in the cell walls of all plants, making boron necessary in soils. Experiments indicate a role for boron as an ultratrace element in animals, but its role in animal physiology is unknown.

But Is Borax Toxic or Not?

There are a lot of confounding factors based on the source. The main points I found in researching were:

Actual warnings relate to eye irritation, undiluted skin contact, and ingestion.

The FDA and the ECA (European Chemicals Agency) banned borax as a substance of high concern but didn’t provide any documentation other than soil level dangers.

The European Union and Canada have banned the use of borax not just in food but in body care products made for children under the age of 3, according to this EWG article. This may be reasonable since being applied directly the skin (not the case in cleaning products or laundry detergent residue).

I was unable to find any studies that proved a danger to borax in natural cleaning products in diluted amounts as long as it didn’t get into the eyes or wasn’t ingested.

The EWG Skin Base Database classified borax as a moderate hazard, but most of the studies and listings related to its use in food.

In the event of accidental ingestion, certainly contact your local emergency service or the American Association of Poison Control Centers immediately at 1-800-222-1222.

The Bottom Line: Is Borax Safe?

I could not find any data that was compelling enough for me to avoid natural borax powder completely. Obviously, I would not ingest it or feel comfortable using it in cosmetic or food preparations.

At the same time, most products I use borax in aren’t coming in direct, undiluted contact with my skin, I’m not ingesting them and I’m not getting them in or near my eyes, so most of the concerns and warnings are not valid.

Also, I’m using homemade products with borax to replace things like regular laundry detergent or cleaners that rate “D” or “F” on the EWG Database.

Borax is an effective natural cleaner and a safer alternative to many conventional cleaners. Yes, it is also a pesticide, but a natural one (and great at getting rid of ants- here’s a great tutorial) but I’m yet to find conclusive evidence that it is either safe or harmful to humans (other than if it is ingested, rubbed in the eyes, etc.).

What I Do

I still consider borax safe for use in natural cleaning, but absolutely do your own research and make sure you are using appropriately in any capacity. I use a natural borax powder so it is free of any added surfactants or detergents, but Mule Team Borax is also considered a pure/natural form of borax.

Bottom line, I always advocate that every mom should listen to their gut (and the research, of course). If you aren’t comfortable using borax in your home, this line of green cleaning products may be a great option for you. (To hear more about why I trust them, listen to my interview with the founder in this Wellness Mama podcast.)

What are your thoughts on borax? Do you consider it safe enough to use for homemade creations?

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/26407/borax-safe/

[samirgianni]

Crop Rotation and Soil Amendments in the Small Garden

When we first started working in an allotment garden oh, 20 years ago (aauugghh!) I read a lot of gardening books and magazines. The one thing that has really stuck from that reading is our crop rotation plan. Our plan is adapted from one put forth by Sylvia Thompson, and which is described in her book The Kitchen Garden, although it only gets 3 pages there. I think I first found it as an article in The Kitchen Gardener magazine, an excellent but somewhat short-lived venture, where the plan was detailed in a longer article. No sign of it online, alas. What I am about to describe is more-or-less her plan, much adapted to our own personal uses. That's one of the beauties of this scheme - it is a simple, even crude, four-part division, and as long as  you remember the logic of the plan quite adaptable. On this blog I've previously discussed this plan briefly and often presented vegetables grouped together in the categories we use, but I don't think I have really delved into it in great detail. There are 2 general reasons to rotate crops, even in a fairly small garden. The first is the one people tend to think of: to avoid the build-up of diseases and pests in the area. Unfortunately, rotation does not do much to alleviate this problem in a small garden. You are staving things off for perhaps 15 minutes in my experience. Still, we rotate crops partially because hope is as hard to kill as cucumber beetles, and partially because we do get the second benefit: we can plan and target soil amendments to keep our plants at the level of fertility best suited for them. Essentially, this plan groups vegetables according to their nutrient needs. I'm being a bit facetious about the effectiveness of a rotation plan in avoiding diseases and pests, by the way. In reality while it doesn't do much to evade pests, I suspect it's quite useful in keeping the diseases down to a dull roar. Be sure however, that you are not saving diseased seeds and simply moving the problem along every year. (See our struggle with bean anthracnose.) And if you do get diseases don't put the season-end debris into the compost heap. If you have municipal compost pick up use that; if like us you have a large property, have a compost dump some good distance from the garden, from which you do not actually use the compost.

***

The groups that vegetables are divided into for this plan are as follows: LEAFS are the vegetables with high nitrogen requirements. Many of these vegetables are the ones for which we use the leaves, such as most of the brassica family, spinach, chard, lettuce and most salady greens, mustards, etc. Also included is corn, which has a very large hungry plant, even if what is eaten is the seed or fruit of the plant. We grow all the brassicas here, even if they are used as roots (rutabaga, turnips, radishes) or stems (kohlrabi). Celery would be here, and we include celeriac as well. Leeks do better here than in with the roots, and other onions can be included here if the root section is more crowded than the leaf section - as you see we are making pragmatic exceptions already. We tend to have a lot of room left over in the leaf bed since we don't grow corn and brassicas are limited due to their incompatibility with our soil. Some of the leafs go into and out of the garden fairly quickly; the smaller salady things as well as many oriental vegetables and things like rapini can produce usable material in as little as a month. That allows you to possibly plant some green manures in this section or to use part of it as a targeted compost site (i.e. just pile up  your compost in a chosen spot over the summer and dig it in during the autumn.) Of course, you can succession plant instead. We meet the need for extra nitrogen amongst this group of plants by amending each 8' x 5' section with one wheelbarrow full of either our own compost or composted manure acquired elsewhere, before planting. Our own compost is the cheapest, but maintaining a compost pile sufficient to produce the amount required is a challenge and takes quite a lot of work. When we were first gardening at this site and struggling to bring our soil fertility up from dire to acceptable, we put in very large amounts of composted manure brought in literally by the dump-truck load. Now we can maintain it with our own compost supplemented with bags of manure from the nursery when that runs out. We target the brassica beds in particular with other nutrients. We add a little dolomitic lime to those beds as well as borax. The first helps raise the pH of our soil (lower the acidity) and the second helps with a suspected boron deficiency. Also as the season progresses, the leaf section is most likely to be treated with foliar spray fertilizers. We prefer organic ones based on fish, seaweeds, and molasses. (As you may suppose, such spraying sessions are immediately followed by laundry and bathing sessions... yeeeeeah. And we don't do it right before harvests - there would be no point since they wouldn't have time to do anything anyway.) Periodic dustings with food-grade diatomacious earth are of some use against leaf-munching insect pests. FRUITS: are the vegetables where the seed bearing parts of the plant are eaten, with the exception of legumes which will form their own group, and corn which, as already mentioned, goes in with the leafs. Squash, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are the main vegetables in this category. These will be planted where the leaf plants were in the previous season. They need some nitrogen as most of them form fairly substantial plants, but too much will develop green leafy growth at the expense of the fruit. They also vary in their needs; squash and melons can have fairly substantial nitrogen requirements but peppers may not need very much at all. They all do need a certain amount of phosphorus. This should be remaining in the soil to an adequate degree from the amendment with compost made last year when leafs occupied these beds, but we generally add a little bone meal to make sure. Since the fruit plants that need the most nitrogen are generally the largest, and are well spaced apart, it is easy to supply a little compost into the planting hole when they go into the ground. Just a little though! A handful to small shovelful will do, scaled to the plants' expected final size. We used to put a little bone meal in the planting hole with the extra compost, but bone meal is attractive to certain animals (skunks? raccoons? we haven't caught them in the act so are not quite sure) but we may be sure that they are very inclined to pull up any plants that have bonemeal at the roots. It's better to sprinkle bone meal over the bed to be planted a week to a few days before planting and rake it in well to foil these pests. They will likely still come and root around for it but if it is well mixed in and the plants not yet in the ground, little damage will be done. Epsom salts are often also added to the planting hole for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Just a small spoonful should be sufficient, and mix it in a bit. Don't be put off by the name. It isn't a salt; it's crystallized magnesium and sulfur, which are useful in assisting the plants to produce blossoms and fruit. However, if your soil is not deficient in magnesium there is really no point in adding more. Our soil is sandy and acidic, which is often deficient in magnesium, but I can't say we really noticed any difference in productivity the few times we've added epsom salts. Now we don't bother. Blossom end rot is a common problem in fruit crops. It is directly caused by a lack of calcium, however the problem is rarely an actual lack of calcium in the soil but is more related to too much water, too little water, or wildly fluctuating amounts of water. Keep an eye on the watering; most fruit crops in my opinion do best with steady but ever so slightly scant quantities of water, especially once they are on to the fruiting stage. Of course if it is raining non-stop there isn't much to be done. Although, in my experience, a tendency to blossom end rot is definitely something that can be selected against in seed saving, the same with a tendency to split. Keep that in mind during particularly rainy seasons as a silver lining. Organic fertilizers as described in the leaf section may help with blossom end rot, because they encourage the fungi which regulate mineral uptake in plant roots. It doesn't hurt to add crushed eggshells for the calcium content, but I don't think it particularly helps all that much either. If they are dried well before being crushed and scattered about they may deter snails and slugs to some degree though - which means you may actually prefer to save them for the short-assed leaf plants. ROOTS: are the plants where the edible part grows underground, or at least at ground level. Carrots, onions and garlic, sweet potatoes, potatoes, parsnips, and beets are the main crops here - as mentioned above brassica root crops go with the rest of the brassicas in the leaf section. Root crops in general do not like too much nitrogen. This is why they are saved for the crop which is 2 years away from a general application of compost. Too much nitrogen may cause skinny, hairy, split roots - a thing most likely to be really apparent in carrots. However when we first started in this garden we struggled with carrots. Now they do well. My conclusion is that they do like compost - provided it was applied 2 years earlier. Carrots go into a bed previously planted with peppers and eggplants, which are the lightest users of nitrogen and which were given the least in the way of planting-time compost. Parsnips and beets too, for preference. Potash or potassium is the main nutritional requirement of the root crops. Since the previous rotations are light users of this nutrient, hopefully it is still present from the original application of compost. Wood ashes and kelp meal are recommended to boost potash if you feel it is necessary; we never have added either and our root crops seem to be doing fine. Your soil may vary of course, and if you happen to have some nice clean wood ashes a light sprinkling worked in  a few days to a week before planting may be a good idea. I wouldn't go chasing after them, though. Potatoes produce tubers in proportion to a good healthy top growth and are probably more interested in a nitrogen boost than any other root crop. For this reason, and also the fact that they are solanaceous crops, Sylvia Thompson recommended putting them in with fruit rotation. I don't do that because the fruit rotation is already the one that is bursting at the seams for us. They get their own bed and I don't mind adding a little compost for them. Do it with a light hand though; compost in contact with the forming tubers can cause fungal problems on them. Planting comfrey leaves with potatoes is often recommended and it is something I always mean to try since the neighbouring ditches are full of feral comfrey, but so far I always forget. Again, if you add it, it should not come into direct contact with the roots. Potatoes, like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers (and tomatillos and ground cherries) are members of the solanacea family and should not follow any of those. We have 5 beds in each section; tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos and ground cherries are all planted in the 3 central beds of the fruit section only, then in this rotation potatoes are only ever planted in the 2 outer beds. This is a rule we follow more assiduously than most. Sweet potatoes have such lush growth they always look like they should require a lot of nitrogen, but they really don't. They come from tropical conditions where the soil is often somewhere between poor and completely lousy, and they contend with alternating torrential downpours and droughts. Consequently they are pretty tolerant to everything except cool weather.  Onions are another "root" vegetable that like a bit of nitrogen, or so I am told. Mine have always done just fine without. A foliar feed early in the season may be a good idea though. In fact onions consist of a swollen ball of basal leaves above the actual roots, and rarely grow deep in the soil unless you planted them too deeply. Leeks are more green and leafy, and I put them in with the leaf rotation. Shallots tend to go wherever I can find them some room, to be honest. Finally, garlic is a bit of an oddball vegetable in that it is planted somewhere between late summer and fall, and harvested the next July. We put it in one of the beds that had tomatoes in it. As soon as frost touches the tomatoes and/or they have stopped producing, we remove them at once and plant garlic in their place. Then the garlic is in the right spot for the next summer. When the garlic comes out I replant the space with beets intended specifically for pickling - I don't mind if they end up a little on the small side. There are beets elsewhere in the root beds for summer eating and winter storage. Radishes could follow the garlic as well. Winter radishes in particular would work well and can be stored for a time. Yes, I usually want to put radishes in with the leafs but oh well. They are flexible enough for this. Watch your brassica positioning in relation to the radishes though, if you put them here. LEGUMES: consist of all the peas and beans; peanuts, chick peas, lentils, and lima beans included, as well as some cover crops/green manures such as hairy vetch and red clover. Legumes have the ability to fix nitrogen in their roots, supplying their need for nitrogen themselves and leaving some behind when they come out. Thus they are either the last crop of the rotation or the first, depending on how you want to  look at it. They will grow in quite poor soil, provided it has the fungus they interact with for nitrogen fixation. Our first bean and pea crops were very poor because our soil didn't have it. So, for the second, third, and fourth years we used a "bean inoculant" (which is actually a fungus) with our legumes when we planted them. Many soils already have the requisite fungus present, and bean inoculant can be hard to find and a bit pricey. However, our experience was that one application to each section of beds was sufficient but required and now all our peas and beans are growing well. If you are starting a new garden and struggling with peas and beans, consider using it. Legumes are really the only set of vegetables that leave the soil with more nutrients than they found, as a result of this ability to hoard nitrogen. However, to benefit from this directly don't remove the finished plants by pulling them out - clip them off just above the ground. Otherwise their accumulated nitrogen simply moves on to the compost heap, assuming that is where you put them. That's not a disaster if you apply the finished compost back to the beds in the fullness of time, but since these beds will hold the nitrogen-hungry leaf crops next season it is better to leave it right in place for them.

*** 

With this plan, you need to allot equal amount of space for each section, since each grouping will rotate through the whole garden in time. This can be a little hard to achieve, and a little moving of things around is tolerable to achieve the quantities and varieties you want. Just keep in mind the nutritional needs being catered to in each section, and move the plants most appropriate for the alternate section. We have started growing and eating a lot more dry beans, and it was to some degree in response to the need to fill in space in the legume section. A happy accident, as it happens! As you may suspect from all of this is that you really need to make a garden plan before you plant, and amend it as you go. If you have a garden of any size at all it will really help you maximize your productivity, keep track of where each plant is (what is this little green sprout, anyhow?) and if you keep your plans from year to year (I recommend it!) you can refer back to them to note the last time you grew something, and review how your garden has evolved over time. from Seasonal Ontario Food http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/2017/01/crop-rotation-and-soil-amendments-in.html

[trihalo42]

Boron and the Fluoride Conspiracy

Boron and the Fluoride Conspiracy

NOTE: If anything written here seems out of place or oddly phrased, it's because all sorts of strangeness has kept me from finishing this, and I'm just tired of wrestling with whatever force seems intent on annoying me.

Sodium Tetraborate has been suggested as an alternative treatment for various things ranging from using it's anti-fungal properties in eliminating Candida overgrowth to removing Fluoride from tissues and bones. Some have falsely claimed it is a “dangerous” and “toxic” substance. Boron has a long and detailed history of testing, especially by the EPA, and was always found to be relatively safe, having a toxicity on the level of table salt. Why do some now claim that it's dangerous?

Read More break here due to length

The many uses for Boron:

First, I feel it's a good idea to point out that Borax in particular is used for more than just laundry. A Wiki page sums it up nicely.

Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. Powdered borax is white, consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.

Borax has a wide variety of uses. It is a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes. It is also used to make buffer solutions in biochemistry, as a fire retardant, as an anti-fungal compound, in the manufacture of fiberglass, as a flux in metallurgy, neutron-capture shields for radioactive sources, a texturing agent in cooking, as a precursor for other boron compounds, and along with its inverse, boric acid, is useful as an insecticide.

In artisanal gold mining, the borax method is sometimes used as a substitute for toxic mercury in the gold extraction process. Borax was reportedly used by gold miners in parts of the Philippines in the 1900s.[5]

(Reference (5): "March 2012 ipad waste Filipino Borax, Pakistans Pollution, Artisanal Gold Mining". Blacksmithinstitute.org. Retrieved 2016-08-07.)

Lab Rats and Boron Toxicity:

"LD50" is the amount of a material, given all at once, which causes the death of 50% of a group of test animals. LD50 is one way to measure the short-term poisoning potential (acute toxicity) of a material.

The now archived page I originally used, references follow: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/archive/borictech.html

"The U.S. EPA considers boric acid to be low in acute toxicity based on studies in rats with an oral LD50 of 3450 mg/kg for male rats and 4080 mg/kg for female rats.(1) Sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) is also low in toxicity based on acute oral toxicity studies in rats with an LD50 of 4550 mg/kg for male rats and 4980 mg/kg for female rats. For both compounds the most sensitive toxicological end points are testicular atrophy in males and developmental toxicity in pregnant females. Researchers observed skeletal abnormalities and decreased fetal weight in offspring at oral doses that caused no signs of toxicity to the mother.(1)"

"The reported acute oral LD50 for boric acid in mice is 3450 mg/kg.12 Studies in rats report LD50 values for boric acid ranging from 2660-5140 mg boric acid/kg body weight depending on the duration of exposure.3,12,13 Acute oral LD50 for sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) in rats ranges from 3493 to 6080 mg borax/kg body weight.(2),(3)"

"Rats fed sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) for 2 years at doses of 0, 65, 154, or 515 mg/kg/day (0, 7.3, 17, or 58 mg boron/kg/day) showed no increases in tumor incidence at any dose tested.(1)"

And they survived for 2 years consuming it every day. Dogs, however, seem to be a little more sensitive.

"Oral exposure studies in dogs reported LD50 values greater than 631 mg boric acid/kg body weight and greater than 974 mg borax/kg body weight, indicating that dogs may be more sensitive to these compounds than rats or mice.(1)"

4 grams might sound scary to some people, but that's per kilogram. It takes more of something toxic to bring down a really big animal like an elephant than it does to kill a lab rat. 4g of sugar is roughly a teaspoon. For a 200 pound man, a 4g/kg measure would be about 360 grams, which is about 1/3 of a kilo or almost a pound of the stuff . But that's toxicity for lab rats. Dogs are a little more sensitive, and human sensitivity varies a good bit, as we'll see further along.

Keep this in mind for when I point out what the World Health Organization says about Boron toxicity.

Reference (1): Boric Acid/Sodium Borate Salts: HED Chapter of the Tolerance Reassessment Eligibility Decision Document (TRED); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, Health Effects Division, U.S Government Printing Offices: Washington, DC, 2006.

Reference (2): Draft Toxicological Profile for Boron; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: Atlanta, GA, 2007.

Reference (3): WHO. Environmental Health Criteria 204: Boron; International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 1998.

Boron and Rat Babies:

There's something that happens in the rats that's used to try to scare us. According to an EPA document mentioned,

"...For both compounds the most sensitive toxicological end points are testicular atrophy in males and developmental toxicity in pregnant females. Researchers observed skeletal abnormalities and decreased fetal weight in offspring at oral doses that caused no signs of toxicity to the mother..."

“Testicular atrophy” does sound pretty scary, but I haven't seen it mentioned in any human studies or in people involved in borate mining. And babies of any species are more sensitive than their adult mothers.

The effect on rat offspring is then used to claim that it could cause the same effect in humans. Many of us who consider ourselves bodybuilder types would really love for several different things that affect lab rats to actually affect humans. There's been some substances that got lab rats all jacked up and looking like The Hulk that have practically zero effect on humans. For example, the whole "myostatin" supplement craze would have been really awesome if it had actually worked. But that doesn't discourage the side effects of Boron seen in rats from being used as a scare tactic.

But lab rats might enjoy something that is far more toxic to humans. I mean, they eat garbage after all. And the dogs tested seemed to be more sensitive than the rats. But Boron's not even considered toxic to bees, and that's really saying something.

The Boron and the Bees:

"The U.S. EPA reported a contact LD50 of greater than 362 ppm and classified boric acid as "relatively nontoxic" to bees.(5)"

Reference (5): "Reregistration Eligibility Document: Boric acid and its sodium salts; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1996."

Borax is about as toxic as table salt:

Health Science Spirit has a great article about Borax.

They compare the MSDS toxicity of Sodium Chloride (table salt) to Borax in detail. I won't directly quote it all here because it's a lot of detail. The take home point for me is, "...Here you see that table salt is 50 to 100% more toxic than borax, it changes the genetic material and is mutagenic, while borax is harmless in this regard..."

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm

Scary numbers:

Yet a page for the World Health Organization (WHO) has this scary looking text.

http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/training_poisons/basic_analytical_tox/en/index8.html

"6.13 Borates"

"...Small children are especially susceptible to borates and deaths have occurred after topical application of boric acid powder for happy rash. Serious borate poisoning in adults is usually the result of improper use. The fatal dose of boric acid or sodium borate in an adult is 7-35 g."

I'll come back to the “happy rash” topical application thing shortly.

For comparison, 7 to 35 grams of sugar would be about 2 to 8 teaspoons. Also consider that eating 8 teaspoons of table salt could cause some people problems.

They claim that a dose as low as 7 grams can be “fatal”. But their numbers don't quite match up with other research and seem to be presented in a way that discourages people from using Boron at all.

Boric Acid Toxicity:

"A review of acute human exposures to boric acid indicated the effects of any particular dose can vary dramatically among individuals. The average dose for asymptomatic ingestion cases, which accounts for 88% of all ingestions, is around 0.9 grams. However, the range of reported asymptomatic doses is wide, from 0.01 to 88.8 g. The average dose causing symptoms was 3.2 grams, but it was also highly variable with individual values ranging from 0.1 to 55.5 g. (14)"

Reference (14): Litovitz, T. L., Klein-Schwartz, W., Oderda, G. M., Schmitz, B. F. Clinical Manifestations of Toxicity in a Series of 784 Boric Acid Ingestions. Am. J. Emerg. Med. 1988, 6, 209-213.

The above reference is to Boric Acid, which is known to be a little more toxic than Sodium Tetraborate, the naturally occurring salt.

So some people suffered “symptoms” from a tenth of a gram, while others showed no symptoms from ingesting nearly 90 grams. That's a pretty big difference.

Babies and Boron:

The reference to children and deaths from topical application I unconsciously skipped over at first, because it reads like a standard scare tactic. An extreme over-generalization with no references. So I dug up a reference.

BORIC ACID POISONING IN INFANCY ARISING FROM THE TREATMENT OF NAPKIN RASH

BY P. C. MacGILLIVRAY and M. S. FRASER From the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, and the Department of Child Health. University of Aberdeen (RECEIVED FOR PUBLICATION JULY 28, 1953)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1988688/ or for the .pdf download https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1988688/pdf/archdisch01411-0064.pdf

In the section titled “Prevention”,

"Our first concern in this paper is with poisoning as it occurs during the treatment of ammoniacal dermatitis. The question at once arises, Why have so few cases been reported when so many babies have been exposed to boric acid in this way? One reason appears to be the varving dosage due to the different methods of use. It is generally advised that the drug should be used solely as a 'napkin rinse', impregnating the fabric with a saturated solution, and no systemic effects have been recorded from this procedure. Most of the poisonings have been caused by the liberal application to the napkins or the skin of powdered boric acid or of borated dusting powder, and the remainder by 10% boric acid ointment..."

Read this one line again about the napkin rinse, "...no systemic effects have been recorded from this procedure...". The problem with toxicity comes in when someone just pours the stuff onto already damaged skin.

A general rule I try to follow is to never put anything on my skin that I can't eat. The skin is a great barrier against many things, but some things do soak through, and damaged skin makes for a poor barrier.

And consider this,

"Boric acid and sodium tetraborate decahydrate are both low in toxicity when applied to undamaged skin based on dermal LD50 >2000 mg/kg when applied to rabbit skin. The U.S. EPA classifies both active ingredients as low in dermal toxicity and neither are considered dermal irritants.(1)"

So the U.S. EPA considers them "low in dermal toxicity", but the WHO page has the scary wording that "...deaths have occurred after topical application of boric acid powder...".

I smell an agenda. And it smells like a rat. A rat that survived eating enough Borax to supposedly kill a grown man...

Minerals:

So where does this stuff come from anyway?

http://www.minerals.net/mineral/borax.aspx

THE MINERAL BORAX

"Borax occurs in arid regions, forming from evaporation of saline lakes. Borax is also synthetically formed as a by-product of mining operations of borate deposits, and most of the specimens from the famous mine at Boron, California, are formed this way.

The first Borax specimens came several dry lake deposits in Tibet. They were shipped in large quantities by ancient caravans for profit. Much greater deposits were later found in the southwestern U.S., from which most of the world's industrial borax comes. Borax specimens are translucent when fresh, but eventually lose water in their chemical structure and turn opaque, developing a white powder on their surfaces. If allowed to dehydrate, it will eventually crumble into a white powder. Because of this property, known as efflorescence, Borax is not commonly seen in collections. When a Borax specimen loses water, it alters into a new mineral called Tincalconite, which contains the same elements as Borax but has half the water, and crystallizes in a different crystal system."

Miners:

Some of the safety data involves people who work in the mining operations.

"People processing borax at work have reported temporary respiratory irritation including dry mouth, nose and throat, coughing, sore throat, shortness of breath and nose bleeds after exposure to airborne particles of sodium tetraborate decahydrate.(2),(4) One such study found that a single 20 minute exposure to 10 mg sodium borate decahydrate/m3 (0.7 mg boron/m3) had no effect on workers, while another study found over a 6 hour shift, the lowest average concentration causing respiratory effects (LOAEL) was 5.72 mg particulate borax/m3 (0.44 mg boron/m3).(2)"

"Employees working for more than five years around borax or boric acid dust found that exposure to 4.4 mg/m3 of borax or more caused respiratory and nasal irritation. Other workers exposed to particulate boric acid reported respiratory and nasal irritation at concentrations less than 10 mg boric acid/m3.(20)"

Reference (4): Toxicological Review of Boron and Compounds in Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); U.S Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 2004.

Reference (20) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), Boron and Compounds; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/iris/(accessed March 2010), updated Jan 2010.

If the stuff was as lethal as some would have us believe, there would need to be a quarantine zone around the mining operations and sending employees in would potentially be a death sentence, which it obviously is not.

Animals Love Boron:

From Dr. Axe, Food is Medicine http://draxe.com/boron-uses/

"...Boron uses even include the ability to help animals suffering from pain. Horses, sheep and other domesticated animals that develop signs of arthritis are sometimes given boron supplements to ease pain and inflammation.

In fact, because levels of boron in foods are highly dependent on how healthy the soil is where the crops are grown, animals that graze on depleted soils low in boron usually have less muscle, and more bone and joint pain as they age than animals raised on boron-rich soils..."

And one paper shows that Boron supplementation can improve the quality of chicken eggs.

"New investigations on the effect of the dietary boron on broilers and layers; Boron and food quality" - Archiva Zootechnica vol. 8, 2005 http://www.ibna.ro/arhiva/AZ%208/AZ%208_06%20RCriste.pdf

Trees Love Borax:

One more great thing about Sodium Tetraborate is that it can be used to kill fungus on trees. According to one research paper for the U.S. Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture:

http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr116/psw_gtr116_07_kliejunas.pdf

...The studies and observations summarized in this paper indicate that boraxing of pines in eastside pine type stands is an effective means of preventing annosus infection and reducing future losses...

Hidden Agendas:

If you listen to our corrupt government, they act like Boron is Arsenic. In the UK, there's been an effort to keep people from getting their hands on Borax. One of their "warnings" is that it could affect hormone levels. Yeah, no kidding, because Boron counteracts Fluoride which is the reason those hormone levels are suppressed in the first place. Fluoride is a known endocrine disruptor. Sure most of them don't Fluoridate their water, but that doesn't stop it from showing up in pesticides and goods imported from the USA. It's not about any version of Boron being "dangerous". It's about Boron countering the Fluoride conspiracy.

Where's the science to back up my Boron vs Fluoride claim?

I have a list of studies in a previous Tumblr post here:

https://trihalo42.tumblr.com/post/154264199155/studies-utilizing-boron-to-reduce-fluoride

1) Elsair, J. et al., Boron as antidote to fluoride: effect on bones and claws in subacute intoxication of rabbits. Fluoride 1981; 14(1): 21-9

http://www.fluoridealert.org/wp-content/pesticides/1981.f.abstracts.htm

Fluoride 1981; 14(1):21-29

Boron as antidote to fluoride: effect on bones and claws in subacute intoxication of rabbits

Elsair J, Merad R, Denine R, Azzouz M, Khelfat K, Hamrour M, Alamir B, Benali S, Reggabi M

Laboratories of Physiology, Toxicology and Galenic Pharmacy, Medical Institute, Algiers, Algeria

Summary: Rabbits were "subacutely" intoxicated by administration of 30 mg/kg/day of fluoride for 3 months followed by 15 mg/kg/day for a subsequent 3 months (F). Boron was given alone (B) as preventive and simultaneously with fluoride prophylactically (F + Bp), as well as therapeutically namely midway during the experimental period (F + Bpc) while fluoride was being administered and after it was discontinued (Bc compared with fluoirde interuption F*), at a constant F/B ratio. All groups were compared to normal controls.

Boron administered during fluoride intoxication or after its interruption, reduces fluoremia and increases urinary fluoride excretion. Skeletal fluoride levels are directly related to those of claws. They bear no relationship to fluoride in hair. The high fluoride content in bone in lot F decreases with addition of boron. It is still high in lot F* but returns to normal in loc Bc. Calcium content of bones remains normal in all lots. Posterior pad radiography shows a cortical thickness in lot F which is less pronounced in lots F + Bpc and F*, and returns to normal in lot Bc.

2) Elsair, J. et al., Boron as an antidote in acute fluoride intoxication in rabbits: its action on the fluoride and calcium-phosphorous metabolism. Fluoride 1980; 13(1): 30-8

http://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticides/1980.f.abstracts.htm

Fluoride 1980; 13(1):30-38

Boron as an antidote in acute fluoride intoxication in rabbits: its action on the fluoride and calcium-phosphorous metabolism

Elsair J, Merad R, Denine R, Reggabi M, Benali S, Azzouz M, Khelfat K, and M Tabet Aoul

Laboratories of Physiology, Toxicology, and Galenic Pharmacy, Medical Institute, Algiers, Algeria

Summary: The kinetics of calcium, phosphorous and fluoride were studied after daily administration of 60 mg/kg fluoride to rabbits in drinking water for two months and subsequent addition of boron following a lapse of 11 and 45 days during which fluoride was discontinued.

Boron tends to increase the elimination of fluoride from the body. Fluoremia returned to normal levels in all groups on day 11. At that time, the fluoride balance was negative compared with normal levels. When boron was added the negative balance was more pronounced because of relative hyperfluoria and because of a decrease in the digestive utilization coefficient. In bones the fluoride content decreased more slowly. It remained very high on day 45 in the fluoride group, but returned to normal when boron was given.

Calcium and phosphorous balances were normal in all cases on days 11 and 45. This was due to normalization of calcium and phosphorous digestive utilization coefficient, in the 45-day fluoride group after addition of boron.

3) Zhou, L.Y. et al., Effect of borax in treatment of skeletal fluorosis.  Fluoride 1987; 20(1): 24-27

http://www.fluoridealert.org/wp-content/pesticides/1987.part.2.f.abstracts.htm

Fluoride 1987; 20(1):24-27

Effect of borax in treatment of skeletal fluorosis

Zhou LY *, Wei ZD, Ldu SZ

* Department of Hygiene, Guiyang Medical College, Guiyang, Guizhou, China

Summary: Borax was used during 1981-1982 for treatment of 31 patients suffering from skeletal fluorosis. The amount administered was gradually increased from 300-1100 g/day during a three month period, with one week resting period each month.

Experimental criteria included observation of symptoms, of physical signs such as movement of joints, and urinary excretion of F- and BF-4. Findings in patients given borax were compared with data obtained from controls to whom no borax was administered. The borax group experienced a good effect rate.

4) Effect of boron and fluoride on the expression of enamelin in rat incisor

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18705502

Hua Xi Kou Qiang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2008 Jun;26(3):244-7.

[Effect of boron and fluoride on the expression of enamelin in rat incisor].

[Article in Chinese]

Wu HM1, Wang Q, Gao CN, Wei XL.

Author information

1Department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics, School of Stomatology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, China.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of overdose fluoride, boron and two factors on the expression of enamelin in rat incisor.

METHODS: 32 Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Group I: The distilled water was given. Group II: 220 mg/L NaF were given. Group III: 382 mg/L Na2B4O2.10H2O were given. Group IV: 220 mg/L NaF and 382 mg/L Na2B4O2.10H2O were given. The rats were sacrificed in the eighth week. HE staining was used to observe the morphology of ameloblasts. Immunohistochemical staining was used for study the expression of enamelin in rat incisors.

RESULTS: The results showed that the expression of enamelin was reduced in the group II (P<0.01). Compared with group I, the expression of enamelin in group IV had no significant difference. The expression of enamelin in group IV and group II had significant difference (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION: The overdose fluoride can inhibit the expression of enamelin. The effection was weaken when boron added. Boron reduced the toxicity of fluoride on teeth. PMID: 18705502

5) Ameliorative effects of boron on serum profile in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) fed high fluoride ration.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18422253

Trop Anim Health Prod. 2008 Feb;40(2):111-6. Ameliorative effects of boron on serum profile in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) fed high fluoride ration. Bharti VK1, Gupta M, Lall D.

Author information 1Neurophysiology Laboratory, Center for Advanced Studies in Veterinary Physiology, Division of Physiology and Climatology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly 243122, India. vijaykbharti@rediffmail.com

Abstract

An experiment was undertaken to evaluate the protective role of boron on the serum profile of buffalo calves fed a high fluoride ration. Twelve male Murrah buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves of 6-8 months age, divided into three groups of four calves in each, were fed basal diets and supplemented with sodium fluoride (NaF, 60 ppm) alone or in combination with borax (Na2B4O7.10H2O, 140 ppm) for 90 days. Boron (B) was added in the ration as borax to make @140 ppm boron (elemental B) on DM basis in treatment II. Dietary F caused a significant (p<0.05) depressing effect on serum Ca and Zn on day 90 which was improved with B supplementation. However, serum Fe and Cu did not show any significant change on F or F+B supplementation. The serum ALP and phosphorus level were increased significantly (p<0.05) on F feeding but declined significantly (p<0.05) when B was fed. The findings suggested beneficial effect of boron on serum minerals and ALP in buffalo calves fed high fluoride ration.

PMID: 18422253

6) Effect of boron as an antidote on dry matter intake, nutrient utilization and fluorine balance in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) exposed to high fluoride ration.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18781284

Biol Trace Elem Res. 2008 Dec;126 Suppl 1:S31-43. doi: 10.1007/s12011-008-8212-x. Epub 2008 Sep 10.

Effect of boron as an antidote on dry matter intake, nutrient utilization and fluorine balance in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) exposed to high fluoride ration.

Bharti VK1, Gupta M, Lall D.

Author information 1Neurophysiology Laboratory, Center for Advanced Studies in Veterinary Physiology, Division of Physiology & Climatology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar 243122, Uttar Pradesh, India. vijaykbharti@rediffmail.com

Abstract

It is well known that excessive accumulation of fluorides can exert toxic effects on various tissues and organs so as to severely damage the health and production of animals. The aim of this study was to determine beneficial effect of boron on nutrient utilization in buffalo calves exposed to high fluoride (F) ration. For this purpose, we used three groups of four male Murrah buffalo calves (body weight 98-100 kg, aged 6-8 month) each. Control animal was given only basal diet and concentrate mixture. However, treatment I animals were fed basal diet, concentrate mixture, and F [as NaF, 60 ppm of dry matter (DM)]. The treatment II animals were fed basal diet, concentrate mixture, F (as NaF, 60 ppm of DM), and B (as sodium tetraborate, 140 ppm of DM). After 90 days of experimental feeding, a metabolism trial of 7 days duration was conducted to study the treatment effect on nutrient utilization of proximate nutrients, absorption, excretion, and retention of N, Ca, P, Fe, Zn, Cu, and F. Dietary F significantly (p < 0.05) depressed the dry matter intake and increased the apparent digestibility, absorption, and retention of F. However, boron supplementation significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the apparent digestibility, absorption, and retention of F and improved the dry matter intake, fecal excretion, and percent of absorbed F excreted via urine. Apparent digestibility of proximate nutrients (viz. DM, crude protein, crude fiber, ether extract, and nitrogen free extract) was unaffected on either F or F+B treatment. However, absorption and excretion of N, Ca, P, Fe, Zn, and Cu were affected significantly (p < 0.05) on F or F+B treatment. These findings suggest that fluoride-containing diet for short duration has effect on nutrient utilization, and boron at 140-ppm dose level, in general, antagonized the absorption and retention of F and also improved the feed intake in buffalo calves.

PMID: 18781284 DOI: 10.1007/s12011-008-8212-x

7) Postdevelopmental effects of boron, fluoride, and their combination on dental caries activity in the rat.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/234132

J Dent Res. 1975 Jan-Feb;54(1):97-103.

Postdevelopmental effects of boron, fluoride, and their combination on dental caries activity in the rat.

Liu FT.

Abstract

Drinking water of rats aged 21 days was supplemented with 1, 10, 30, 50, 100, or 283 ppm of boron or 10 or 25 ppm of fluoride individually or in combination. All rats were fed a cariogenic diet. Boron did not reduce dental caries activity in erupted molars after eight weeks. When given in combination, it partially antagonized the cariostatic effect of fluoride.

PMID: 234132

8) Marcovitch, S., and Stanley, W.W., A Study of Antidotes for Fluorine. The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 1942; 74(2): 235-8

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/74/2/235.abstract

Abstract

The fluoborates when fed in powdered form were found to be non-toxic to both rats and insects. In       solution enough fluorine is liberated to produce toxic effects.

Both aluminum sulphate and hydrated lime are capable of saving animals from a lethal dose of   sodium fluoride when mixed with the latter. Boric acid also has some value as an antidote through the formation of a fluoborate. The aluminum sulphate forms cryolite which was found to be much less toxic. When aluminum sulphate is mixed with the sodium fluoride and used as a roach powder, a lower kill is obtained than with sodium fluoride alone.

Other:

I also want to point out an article on Cellulite Investigation that helped me put this together. The writer did a great job.

http://www.celluliteinvestigation.com/2011/04/fluoride-detox-with-boron.html

Closing Thoughts:

Despite some massive efforts to hide information in this modern age, where the majority of human knowledge is a mouse click away, Big Pharma has failed to fully cover their tracks.

Some people are concerned about a growing distrust of medicine and science in general. Some angry skeptics make claims about regressing into a primitive society. It's actually quite the opposite. It's the skeptics that are desperate to believe they have it "all figured out". They typically argue that there are a "hundred studies" that show one thing and refuse to accept the one study that contradicts those due to some twisted sense of numerical superiority. By that logic, people were justified in continuing to believe that the Earth was flat. They obviously outnumbered that one Galileo person.

And some people have a naive belief that all scientists are noble pure paragons of virtue and righteousness, unaffected by personal agenda and monetary gain. Heavy emphasis on monetary gain.

Ancient remedies and “alternative treatments” are still passed around, sometimes out of sight of those who have tried to erase history. Be wary of anyone trying to limit your freedoms and claiming it's “for your own good”.

[coldsuture-blog]

Natural and Safe way to get rid of ants

We have all accomplished the frightful little buggers. Ants can be a noteworthy agony, and even an existence undermining circumstance to specific individuals that have an unfavorably susceptible response to insect nibbles, and as a result of this, ants have been known as executioner ants. It basically does not appear to be plausible of such a small seemingly insignificant detail as a subterranean insect, however their best resistance is by all accounts their immense numbers. They have a tendency to duplicate quickly, effortlessly, and promptly. They can really overwhelm a yard if they are left to themselves. A little adolescent who coincidentally falls into a fire insect overnight boardinghouse quickly canvassed in them will be in misery and torment, and now and again may even should be hurried to a crisis room. A diminishing creature can without much of a stretch be overwhelmed by them and used as a nourishment source, an incredible exasperating thought.

Ants devour a vast scope of things. They are not almost as fastidious the same number of us people with regards to their supper decisions. They don't require flatware! They can convey huge volumes of sustenance in contrast with their body sizes.

It is human instinct to quickly get a container of insect shower or a pack of granules and begin strolling the yard to look for their provinces. In the event that you have dwelled in spots like Texas and Louisiana, you understand that subterranean insect beds can get to be distinctly monstrous. The fire ants are threatening and perilous. It is vastly improved to control an invasion than to wake up one day and understand that your living arrangement now has a place more with the ants than to you.

Infrequently annoying bugs may get to be distinctly safe to the concoction mixes sold available. Subterranean insect snare and insect toxins can lose their helpfulness because of abuse and numerous years of doing combating the exceptionally same toxic substances again and again. The chemicals may moreover realize damage to different bugs and creatures. On the off chance that you don't store them suitably, your kids may get to be harmed by them also.

In spite of the fact that beyond any doubt numerous common bug sprays could be destructive too, they are less perilous with respect to our surroundings and less risky by and large than substance harms, especially in the event that you see correctly how to utilize, blend, furthermore store them legitimately.

Regular or natural bug sprays are those which originate from common assets. Boric corrosive, which is really a type of the mineral boron, is really connected on subterranean insect beds. On occasion it is mixed with different things, for example, sugar and bubbling water. It can likewise be blended as borax cleanser with sugar and water and is protected to work with around pets and little kids. A few people spread it along the section focuses in their homes, lofts or campers.

One more common bug spray to use for controlling ants is cayenne pepper, made into a fluid and connected as a splash, it is very viable. A few people really develop their own pepper plants only for this goal. Hot peppers are additionally used to control or slaughter different bugs. Totally ensure you don't give your little baby a chance to have availability to your pepper plants. Hot peppers can bring about excruciating rankles when eaten.

Corn feast can likewise be utilized as subterranean insect control. It is a minimal effort substitute to toxic chemicals. In the event that maybe you develop your own corn, you may well even know accurately how to make your own corn supper to sustain the ants populace with. It is a nourishment the ants absolutely get a kick out of the chance to expend, however the way to disposing of the troublesome subterranean insect is the point at which they attempt and process the corn dinner, they can't. They get an awful instance of acid reflux and color.

There are many choices for regular bug sprays that can profit your wallet, your plants, and your environment. It is an approach to manage creepy crawlies that could help everyone the distance around.

To learn more about the pet safe ant killer indoors and outdoors visit http://petsafeantkiller.org