Often claims are made that borax is dangerous, and effects on fertility are cited. I genuinely appreciate this concern, I really do. Therefore it is no longer available as a cleaning and laundry product. The chemical name of Borax is Sodium Tetraborate. All borates can be considered derivatives of boric acid. Borax occurs naturally, being produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes.
The chemical name of Borax Substitute is Sodium Sesquicarbonate. Sodium Sesquicarbonate is a mixed crystal of Sodium Carbonate washing soda and Sodium Bicarbonate bicarbonate of soda. It has a similar pH to borax. It is also gentler than Sodium Carbonate yet stronger than Bicarbonate of Soda.
The water bound up in the crystal means that the product is cold water soluble. Unlike Sodium Carbonate, which cakes with cold water. And cosmetically it has traditionally been used in bath salts and bath bombs, hair care products, and deodorants. From swimming pools to in water treatment plants, and as a phosphate-free replacement for cleaning.
Perhaps they read Moral Fibres?! Borax substitute is not considered to be harmful to health or the environment. They have found it may cause slight irritation to sensitive skin. It may irritate the eyes if the dust gets in. And, lastly, it could be harmful if ingested in large quantities. Apart from that, there are no main concerns. To double and triple check, I kept up with my research. What I found was that the Environmental Working Group has, despite gaps in their data, classified Sodium Sesquicarbonate as low risk.
This means no serious issues have been identified. Meanwhile, this scientific journal found that in high doses in rats it caused conjunctivitis and it caused skin irritation. However, they have concluded it is safe to use in cosmetics.
My conclusion? I do, of course, adhere to the general principles of storing cleaning products away from children and pets. However, this is all well and good for my fellow UK and EU readers. But what about readers from other countries? So, is borax safe? Turns out the is borax safe question is a bit harder to answer. Studies cite that they have tested either sodium tetraborate or boric acid. However, the studies are vague. Boron is an element essential for human health. You can even buy boron food supplements.
Excess boron tends to be excreted out of the body , suggesting that boron, and its derivatives, do not bio-accumulate in the body. Borax is commonly used in natural laundry powders. I have found reports of 1, cases of poisoning from detergent capsules in three years. The same article reports that one child a day had to be hospitalised in and The EU has banned borax on claims of impacts on reproductive health, following studies on mice and rats at high abnormally high ingested doses.
The only study I can find looking at the potential impact of human reproductive health is this one. This study crucially relates to boric acid, not borax, and investigates the reproductive effects of boron exposure in workers employed in a boric acid production plant.
Therefore even if you are handling borax all day every day, like these workers are, you are unlikely to encounter any problems. Borax is not a known carcinogen , but like borax substitute, it can be a skin irritant to sensitive skins. Salt, for example, is harmful, even lethal in high doses, yet we quite happily sprinkle it on to our cooking. There are reports of borax inhalation irritating airways. Some people seem concerned about the effects of clothes washed in borax.
However, borax is poorly absorbed through undamaged skin. Your rinse cycle on your washing machine should also take care of rinsing away any excess borax. Instead, I want to present the facts so that you can make up your mind. Is borax safe? I personally feel that conventional laundry powders and liquids and bleach-based cleaning products pose more of a risk to human health and to waterways, but that is just me.
What are your thoughts? Are you happy using borax substitute? Do you feel happy using it in place of Borax? If so, what do you use borax for? You can check it out here! Found this post useful? Alternatively, please support the site by sharing this post with your friends, following along on Instagram , or signing up for the free Moral Fibres monthly newsletter. Do you use borax substitute in your washing machine, or make your own washing powder receipe?
Thank you for this information on borax substitute. Thanks for such great research! Natural joint pain relief. Borax in minuscule doses has been used internally for decades as a natural treatment for arthritic pain and even osteoporosis.
It is believed that the powdered white mineral is so effective at it that it prompted Big pharma pull some strings in Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world to get it banned. What other ways can you use borax? Cleaning , disinfecting and pest control will most certainly be involved. Be sure to check out the infographic below pin it for later and learn some old-fashioned ways to use borax for more than your laundry.
Disclaimer: This post was not designed to diagnose, give medical advice or prescribe any kind of treatment. It is intended only for educational purposes. For any health issue and conditions consult with a healthcare professional. Source: eReplacementParts. Who knew?! It has to be better than the toxic stuff like glyphosate.
Borax is just great! It has so many wonderful properties as a cleaner, weed killer, laundry detergent, mold cleaner and so on!
Thank you for sharing these great recipes! I am always looking for new recipes and ideas. The post and the infographic are lovely! Great job! Frankly, dish soap would also have drowned them, or anything that would eliminate the surface tension of the water. Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more clear from this post.
I am very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there. A couple corrections: 1. It is moderately alkaline, about 9 on the pH scale when fully dissolved in water about the same as baking soda.
Just cleaned the toilet and intend on using a lot of your info. Hey thank you for the tips you offered me I am so excited to see how it. I am dealing with ringworm Can I make a solution to spray on furniture that will kill ringworm spores? For years I have used Borax as a skin cleaner. I had a friend in the movies who used it each night] to remove facial makeup. She never retired without her face being completely clean of all makeup. She was noted for her clear skin and beauty which she maintained into her seventies.
I know that you used to advertise this product to clean greasy hands and leaving soft skin. I have used it for some forty years with no adverse effects. Do you have any research on this use? I thank you iron advice for your reply. Interesting use for borax. He touched his dampened finger in a small amount of the borax and then applied to cold sore on lip.
Think that could have been the case? He is 93 , not absolutely sure it was borax! Borax also eases pain linked to the swelling or sores. The remedy includes application of a paste made by combining borax with Cinnabaris, Borneolum, and Natrii Sulfas Exsiccatus. These are used to soothe the eye when it is red and swollen. Boron protects the eye from a host of parasitic attacks and other nasty fungal infections.
With an organ as delicate as the eye involved, and the importance of the correct mix of these ingredients, it goes without saying that this treatment needs to be done only with professional help. Boron helps ease menstrual problems in women. Ayurvedic research has found that it helps with maintenance of normal uterine and menstrual function. This makes it beneficial to women with dysmenorrhoea or amenorrhoea, commonly referred to as irregular or absent periods.
It acts by clearing obstructions in the body,it alleviates kapha and vata thus bringing balance to your system. Borox acts on the urinary bladder, uterus, and stomach, besides the lungs. Its antimicrobial benefits can therefore be tapped to cure urinary infections.
Chinese herbal medicine has a similar application in treating urinary dysfunction that involves stone formation in the urine and is often painful. Homeopathy suggests borax for those with cystitis, a condition that causes a sharp pain in the urinary opening and a general ache in the bladder that gives you a feeling of urine being retained.
Boron is able to enhance the testosterone level in males; this quality is increasingly taken advantage of by male bodybuilders and athletes.
Although some weight lifters prefer to take its supplements to enhance their testosterone levels, there has been no concrete evidence or explanation of the mechanism by which it helps to make them any more successful. It has been reported that a quarter of a teaspoon of borax added to one quart of drinking water sipped throughout the course of a day while taking magnesium supplements can reverse male impotency.
This can be attributed to many effects of borax on the human body. Borax stabilizes calcium and magnesium in the blood. It stimulates hormone production. Toxic states of hyper fluoride accumulation, internal fungal growth and dangerous microbe production are normalized by borax consumption. Finally, borax has been attributed to female libido enhancement. Women suffering from womb inflammationare recommended to soak in lukewarm bathwater with borax twice a day.
If women displayed profuse, egg-white-like discharge or leucorrhea, they were told to douche with borax and lukewarm water solution three to four times per day. Other symptoms that can be alleviated by borax and water exposure include painful sexual intercourse , blood-streaked vaginal discharge , abdominal distention and false signs of pregnancy. Boron neutron capture agents are used for cancer therapy and in the development of strong enzyme inhibitors.
Its compounds are also used as antibody mimics that can easily identify biologically important saccharides. Borax is used in various household laundry and cleaning products, including the '20 Mule Team Borax' laundry booster, 'Boraxo' powdered hand soap, and some tooth bleaching formulas.
Borate ions commonly supplied as boric acid are used in biochemical and chemical laboratories to make buffers, e. Borate buffers are also used as preferential equilibration solution in dimethyl pimelimidate DMP based crosslinking reactions. Borax alone does not have a high affinity for the hardness cations, although it has been used for water-softening.
A mixture of borax and ammonium chloride is used as a flux when welding iron and steel. It lowers the melting point of the unwanted iron oxide , allowing it to run off.
Borax is also used mixed with water as a flux when soldering jewelry metals such as gold or silver. It allows the molten solder to flow evenly over the joint in question. Borax is also a good flux for 'pre-tinning' tungsten with zinc — making the tungsten soft-solderable.
Borax is often used as a flux for forge welding. Borax is replacing mercury as the preferred method for extracting gold in small-scale mining facilities. A rubbery polymer sometimes called Slime, can be made by cross-linking polyvinyl alcohol with borax. Borax can be used as Food additive. Borax is used as an ingredient in enamel glazes.
It is used as a component of glass, pottery, and ceramics. Borax is Pulverized for the prevention of stubborn pests in closets, pipe and cable inlets, wall panelling gaps, and inaccessible locations where ordinary pesticides are undesirable. Used in treatment for thrush in horses hooves. Borax is used to make indelible ink for dip pens. Other uses of Borax includes; curing agent for snake skins, curing agent for salmon eggs, for use in sport fishing for salmon, as a micronutrient fertilizer to correct boron-deficient soils.
Borax is also used for stopping car radiator and engine block leaks and are used by blacksmiths in forge welding. Internal use of Borax is generally not suggested. Due to its highly alkaline nature, it might cause skin irritation. There are also reports of adverse reproductive and developmental impact on the foetus. Its use in the long term is not recommended as there is a possibility of causing renal dysfunction as the borax accumulates in the body.
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