BORAX BACKGROUND
Curious to know why borax is one of the most important remedies to kill fungus and nano-bacteria? Us too! We asked our independent contributor from Bangkok for clarification on why borax is an important home remedy to consider in certain cases like dog mange, lupus and rosacea.

Ted's response: "There are a lot of evidence why borax is effective against nearly all forms of fungus, whether they be mycoplasma found in lupus, rosacea, dog mange, interstitial cystitis plasmodium parasites, Morgellons disease, or even pneumonia. I think borax medicine is one of the medicines most ignored, misinformed or even suppressed in our present society. The authorities have done it so well that very few know that the toxicity of borax is about equal to that of simple table salt.

I have seen almost daily, people dying of pneumonia (James Brown died a couple of days ago), a Thai actor got his brains eaten by a plasmodium, for example. The possible cure is relatively simple: borax. Every time I see people dying, borax always come to mind, and you probably see why. Even health experts such as Dr. Batmanhelidj (Your Body Cries for Water) got pneumonia, as so did Bob Hope and Buddy Ebsen (Beverly HillBilly). I think pneumonia kills just as many people, it's just that cancer and heart disease take greater billboard area. Because of the way the medical system is structured, heart disease and cancer is more profitable, and a simple magnesium and pH may have helped both problems in prevention and possibly cure (I have seen this on many occasions) for a lot less cost.

Below is one of the many interesting articles concerning borax, which mentions the use of borax against fungus, a well known fact amongst microbiologists but totally unknown to the public.

The second article mentions about the use of borax against the dreaded an incurable plasmodium related organism, a common parasites in human. Never mind about its own effectiveness when combined with hydrogen peroxide in the use of dog mange! Ted"

PIONEER MAGAZINE
Borax Versus Killer Fungus
January 1994

Conifer forests are threatened all over the northern hemisphere by the tiny, ubiquitous spores of a naturally occurring fungus called Heterobasidion annosum. This disease, better known as Fomes, has reached epidemic proportions in Scandinavia, and is a growing menace in the managed forests of Canada, United States, Britain, and Russia. Fomes rots the roots and heartwood of growing trees. It could be called the acid rain of the fungus world.

Supporting the UK's Forestry Commission, Borax Group scientists Kieran Quill and Jeff Lloyd are fighting back against Fomes, and discovering how to do so with maximum effectiveness and economy. Their principal weapons are Tim-bor (disodium octaborate tetrahydrate) and the analytical capacity of the Borax Research laboratories.

Fomes cannot live freely in soil nor can it infect live trees except through root contact or wounds. Its spores however can colonize freshly cut stumps - both the "thinnings" which are essential as forests mature and the stumps left when the crop is finally felled.

The spores are produced by hoof-shaped fruiting bodies near ground level at a daily rate of about six million per square centimeter. Because these spores can be dispersed over distances of at least 300 miles, Fomes can be considered ubiquitous in most managed forests. Once established the fungus can remain viable in a stump for decades, posing a continuous threat to any conifer growing or planted near it. Fomes can survive both extreme cold and extreme heat.

But how are healthy trees infected? Fomes spores germinate on the stump surface, whence the fungus gradually colonizes the root system of the felled tree. From there it enters the root systems of living trees that are in contact with the stump's roots, causing both roots and heartwood to decay, eventually killing the tree.

The fungus is almost impossible to eradicate, except by the removal of all stumps soon after felling - an expensive and rarely practicable option. However, germination of spores on the surface of stumps can be stopped by chemical and biological agents. In the past, this has been carried out manually by the tree feller, but now with increasing mechanization, the requirements have changed. Today a material is needed that can be sprayed automatically onto the stump while the harvesting machine is actually severing the tree. The material must give value for money, be easy to obtain, have low mammalian toxicity, be non-corrosive and environmentally benign.

Among several fungicides tested, borates have consistently given good control. Tim-bor (known as Tim-Bor® in North America) and borax are the only chemicals to have EPA approval for the control of Fomes in the U.S. However materials that are effective over large areas of North America may behave differently in northern Europe where rainfall, climatic conditions and forest management techniques could result in a completely different set of disease and control characteristics. In the light of this, the UK Forestry Commission and the Borax Group have carried out trials in Scotland with the object of determining borate efficacy. What is the threshold at which Tim-bor becomes toxic to the fungus? How little will do the trick?

Undiseased Sitka spruce near Peebles, Scotland were felled and their stumps were treated with Tim-bor at four percent, two percent, one percent, 0.5 percent, or with water. Twenty-four hours later Fomes was applied dropwise by hypodermic syringe.

The stumps were left to mature for a year, during which time samples of wood were regularly extracted with a core borer for borate analysis. At the end of a year, the amount of stump colonized by Fomes was measured on a one inch thick disc cut from a standard depth. Each disc was incubated at 10ºC to 15ºC for ten days.

During incubation, fruiting structures of the fungus emerge from infected wood. These can be seen quite easily under a dissecting microscope, and allow any diseased zones of the stump to be mapped. A comparison of the measured diseased areas on the sample discs provides a means of judging the success of a particular treatment.

All analytical work for the project was carried out at the Borax Research laboratories in Chessington (UK).

The results from this experiment indicate that at a borate concentration of around four percent, the mean area of infected heartwood was reduced from 22 percent to less than 0.5 percent. This represented less than one square centimeter, an insignificant inoculum. However, at concentrations of two percent and below, no significant control occurred. In an earlier experiment it was found that a concentration of five percent totally prevented infection. So a working concentration of four to five percent of Tim-bor is indicated for full disease control.

As a result of this research, Tim-bor is being assessed for full commercial application by the UK Forestry Commission, and has aroused widespread interest across Europe."

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PIONEER MAGAZINE

Of Cabbages And Things
February 1999

Plasmodiophora brassicae are nasty little beasts of uncertain origins. They may relate to the protozoa, single celled organisms which are neither plants nor animals, and are only a few thousandths of a millimeter wide and long. Most of their relatives in this microscopic world are harmless, but some distant cousins are Plasmodium species, which cause malaria in humans and Amoeba species which cause dysentery. Plasmodiophora brassicae's parasitic way of life is to attack vegetables of the brassica family, causing the debilitating clubroot disease. Now, evidence is emerging that boron might play an important part in keeping its effects in check.

Crops of the brassica family are of enormous worldwide importance. Arguably they are second only to cereals in their contribution to human diet and welfare. They range from the cabbages, cauliflowers, calabrese and brussels sprouts familiar in the western world, to a wide array of leafy and root vegetables widespread in India, China and Japan. The Chinese cabbage, for example, is one of the most important foodstuffs of the Orient. Much of the world supply of vegetable oil comes from rape and mustard seed, while swedes (rutabagas) and turnips are important animal fodder crops in Europe and North America.

There wouldn't be much of a problem hosting a parasite like Plasmodiophora if it didn't have such rampant and dire side effects. In clubroot disease, the plant roots are distorted by massive galls, which inhibit water and nutrient uptake. The grossly deformed roots sap carbohydrates from the leaves and deprive developing flowers. The foliage turns bluish-green, then yellow and then wilts: the plant is past the point of no return and nothing can restore it to health.

Not surprisingly, this is responsible for drastic crop losses and poor quality. It is also virtually impossible, certainly in intensively-farmed regimes, to eradicate the parasite from the soil in which it spends much of its lifecycle.

When Plasmodiophora spores germinate in the soil, the tiny organisms swim around and as soon as they meet a root hair they attach and inject their own cell contents into the root. The genetic material multiplies inside the plant, and it is believed that this presence upsets the host hormone metabolism and leads to uncontrolled cell growth - almost a plant cancer. Once established and now mature, the parasites release billions of new spores back into the soil. It is a very robust lifecycle which is almost impossible to break.

There are clues too that Plasmodiophora may incorporate DNA from the host - perhaps a reason why biological control methods or genetically- induced protection methods have not yet been found. The traditional ways of controlling Plasmodiophora, either heavy liming (that is, adding quantities of calcium), alternative crop rotations or better soil drainage, similarly have only limited effect.

This is where boron comes in. The element is an essential plant nutrient, and it is well known that boron-healthy plants are better able to resist disease-causing organisms. In the case of brassicas, the important thing is to give the plant a head start, and certainly enough boron to begin with can help it resist clubroot.

But this doesn't fully explain why crops which enjoy good boron availability seem to be able to resist clubroot significantly better. Researchers, led by Professor Geoffrey Dixon of the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK have been looking into this puzzle.

They started out with three possible ideas. Does boron somehow reduce the potency of the clubroot invader directly in the soil? Might it encourage the growth and activity of soil microbes which then prey on the Plasmodiophora before they attack? Or does it actually fight the invasion or its effects within the plant itself?

The team now suspects it is actually the latter. For boron, which contributes so much for so little to plant metabolism, seems not to do the same for the parasitic protozoan. Indeed it works in the opposite way and actually slows down the lifecycle.

What boron and, less strongly, calcium (from heavy liming) seem to do is to reduce the rate at which the invaders mature inside the root and turn into secondary sporangiophores - the ones that cause the damage - whose mission is to release new generations into the outside subterranean world. Boron apparently doesn't stop the initial invasion, but puts the harmful metamorphosis into slow motion.

Whether boron is altering the biochemical environment inside the root to make it Plasmodiophora-unfriendly, or is encouraging the plant to retaliate is not yet clear. But the effect is the same. Brassicas are given more, and often enough time to mature and establish effective roots before clubroot tumors wreak their damage.

A 15-year long series of experiments conducted by the Strathclyde team has convincingly demonstrated that a specific application of boron to the seedlings at transplanting does indeed reduce the onset of clubroot symptoms and hence protects crop yields to a significant degree.

Species by species, brassicas vary in their susceptibility to boron deficiency, but generally they are rated as vulnerable to low boron levels for general growth and health: boron supplementation is, then, important anyway.

TED'S COMMENTS ABOUT WHERE TO FIND BORAX
Ted from Bangkok, Thailand writes: Most borax I buy is a B.P. grade and a U.S.P. grade borax from a chemical supplier. Those are grade are often used that are pharmaceutical grade. However, those that are gotten from natural sources (e.g. borax) and go relatively unprocessed, that is unadded of additives or anything are often labeled 100% Sodium tetraborate or Borax. Without anything else.

My experience is that free heavy metals found in these product found in supermarket, are not as high as those found in more processed foods (baked goods are off the charts with me) and tap water we usually drink (my toxic heavy metals come from the drinking water and rice cooker), or even in more Organic foods and fertilizers which is very high in heavy metals.

Most contaminants from the products I used are heavy metals and they often come from frying pans, aluminum tea pots, aluminum rice cookers, iron pots & pans, or foods that has gone through a lot of processing such as fast food and chocolates, for example. Even Diet Coke is actually very toxic to me, if I have all the appropriate diagnostic devices to find out people will know the real source of toxicity which is from the benzene (sodium benzoate), bisphenol A (plastic degenerates into a pseudoestrogen Bisphenol A) and aspartame (degrades in the body to formaldehyde) and causes me to be diabetic and other sickness- long term ingestion may be more permanent).

I have actually been offline for almost a week being quite sick of neural disorder, from accidentally ingesting this product hidden in some foods they actually have added in the food at a restaurant (aspartame, sometimes they hide in coffee, but they do not REQUIRE LABELING - secret formula and GRAS status of aspartame), but never have I experienced any sickness from the use of supermarket borax or sodium carbonate labeled at 100%.

I actually have a dithizone tests and other tests of heavy metal to check for presence of mercury, lead, cadmium, iron etc. and most of the problems I have encountered came more from fertilizers, tap water, insecticides, water filter, certain pots and pans (cadmium, iron, aluminum).

The reason for all the fear of chemicals and legal disclaimer is that the seller is not given permission by the government for internal consumption even IF THE products are ACTUALLY SAFE if we actuall DO THE CHEMICAL PURITIES TEST.

If people have the money to bother to do the impurity tests a lot of people will be surprise to find that quite often the opposite is true, most processed foods and processed water, drinks, etc. are actually more contaminated. I have seen pools of aluminum found in baking goods (they create a sort of electrolysis and the aluminum ends up in the bakery products, baked goods, whenever an aluminum foil is used. People are sick simply just preparing coffee and tea in aluminum tea pots. I have actually found a simple way to check by using a small laser pointer pointing in these liquids and see tyndall effect (which are like rays of light you can see when you drive headlights in a fog). The clearer the rays, the more contaminated is the boiled water. So I tend actually to worry more about processed food than I do getting borax, or sodium carbonate from the source.

The other reason why I don't worry a lot from their uses is I always take EDTA, or no sugar no milk Green Tea to remove whatever heavy metals I consumed, which is quite often from the office water tank, rice cooker, and other processed foods, rather than sources from natural borax. This is a very slow learning process for most people to unlearn what they have geen taught and I think it is going to take many decades not years for general consumer to realize this fact. I am not entirely optimistic that people will realize this unless they bother to do their own chemical analysis and get the facts straight. The SYSTEM as we know it is a monopoly on medicine and they don't want people to stray off this area, even if THE SYSTEM doesn't work.

In general, if I cannot get USP grade, Food Grade, or Analytical Grade borax, I usually end up having to purchase those found in supermarket. I have little choice. I never tell anyone what to buy, it must be noted that I only tell myself what I can or cannot buy. What you do buy, you just have to decide for yourself. There's a good reason for that, different countries has different standards. However, my own take on the problem is they are relatively pure for most purposes since the quantitities used is actually quite small, such as 1/4 teaspoon per liter of water, so whatever contaminant in the parts per million is reduced fractionally of that amount to multibplied by .001 (about 0.1% percent) of whichever value of contaminant.

It must be noted that a lot of remedies I used is almost like 16th Century medicine and obviously 21st century products isn't selling anymore or hard to find. Therefore much of the decision, ulimately depends on you. If you want an authoritive figure to decide instead of you (if you trust him but I don't), then it is likely they will not recommend any natural remedies I post. Unfortunately for them, their treatment is actually killing me several times over, and I ended up saving my own life without much help from anyone else. That's at least my experience, perhaps, I am unlucky to rely on them.

TED'S REMEDIES
04/28/2008: Peter (peterjordan16910@hotmil.com) from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK writes: "Hi Ted,

You sound like a knowledgeable fellow so perhaps I am wrong and you are right, however I took some time to find out that baking soda is what we in the UK call Bicarbonate of soda AND Borax is also what we call Bicarbonate of Soda. Baking powder is what we call Cream of Tarter. So as you can imagine your article on treating Rosacea with Borax and Baking Powder is somewhat confusing. Below is one of the articles I tracked down to clarify the terms:

What is Baking Powder and Baking Soda?

Baking Soda is pure Sodium Bicarbonate, also called Bicarbonate of Soda (NaHCO3). It is a white crystalline alkali which reacts by effervescing (fizzing) when it comes into contact with acids, thus producing gasses, namely carbon dioxide. Because of this chemical reaction, it is often used in fizzy drinks and antacid remedies and it's precisely this reaction which facilitates the rising action in baked goods.

Baking Powder is more complex. It is composite of Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), one or more acid salts such as Cream of Tartar (Tartaric Acid), Sodium Aluminium Sulphate, Calcium Acid Phosphate plus a drying agent such as cornflour and the exact mix determines whether it is "Single" or "Double" acting. The difference between baking soda, single and double acting baking powders, is when the chemical reactions actually take place, and is explained below. However, the rising principal is the same in that a chemical reaction produces carbon dioxide bubbles which expand through the cooking mixture.

TAKEN FROM: www.recipes4us.co.uk/Specials and Holidays/Baking Powder and Soda Origin Uses Recipes.htm"

Ted from Bangkok, Thailand writes: "(excerpted from the Reader Q&A section on the Rosacea remedies page)
Consider taking borax. Some people believed the demodex mites are responsible for rosacea. They may be right. But, there are others too that are not yet identified. I prefer to lump all these insect issues to just one category: nanoinsects. These insects have several weakness that you can kill them, or at least weaken them. One obvious ones is borax. The treatment can be broken down to two things;

1. Taken internally: Try 1/8 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon of borax in one liter of water/day. You just drink this water throughout the day. If it runs out then drink just normal water, with some magnesium added if possible. Magnesium is found in certain seeds such as sunflower. They seem to be synergistic with the vitamin D as vitamin D promotes calcium and the body needs to balance both magnesium and calcium to an ideal amount.

ALLERGIES

ANTS

ARTHRITIS

BORIC ACID VS BORAX

BORON VS BORAX

[QUESTION]  10/03/2009: Crista from Pekin, Illinois writes: "I know I posted the quote earlier, but as I have been continuing to research, why not just take the Boron suppliments versus drinking the Borax? Is there a big difference in taking one or the other? If Ted or someone else could answer this that would be great."

Thanks, Kathy"

[QUESTION]  05/01/2009: Marty from Nashville, Tennessee writes: "I want to try the Borax detox regimen, but I do not want to ingest Borax as sold commercially. I purchased a bottle of liquid Boron from a sports nutrition company, which is 99.9% Boron. The suggested daily dose is one teaspoon for adults. Do I use this amount with the one liter or water (and sea salt), or do I still use the 1/8 teaspoon as listed on this site? The liquid Boron I bought is 20 parts per million (ppm). Thank you in advance for your input."

BRAIN FOG, LUPUS

CHICKENPOX

COLDS

[YEA]  11/22/2007: Kristy from Lansing, Michigan writes: "Two of my kids have 'tried' to come down with colds during the last two weeks. When my son's hit, he was coughing so hard he was nearly vomiting. My daughter woke up coughing, a very sore throat and her voice was almost gone. Usually I have them do the inhaling of peroxide a few times a day and give them at least 1/4 cup of organic vinegar with 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a little cinnamon and water each day. This time I added Borax water (1/8 teaspoon to 1 liter of water) to the mix-and their colds were gone in less than 12 hours. No one was more stunned than I was that it worked so fast! But I shouldn't have been surprised. I have had painful joints from fibromyalgia for years, but sometimes the pain in my right shoulder is almost unbearable (I'm right-handed). The last flare had been going on about 2 months and I was getting very little sleep, which was what spurred my finally giving in and trying the Borax. Within three days the severe pain was gone and I was back to just the normal pain! Now I just need to make myself drink it EVERY day and maybe all the pain will go away.

DISHES

FIBROMYALGIA

[YEA]  05/25/2009: Denise from Biloxi, Mississippi writes: "Fibro/Flouride:

FLUORIDE POISONING

[SIDE EFFECTS]  04/15/2009: Dave from Surrey, BC writes: "I slowly went from 1/32 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon dose borax to remove fluoride from the body. I quit after about 2 days on the 1/4 teaspoon dose. I mixed it properly in pure water according to the directions that I found here. I had to go off of the borax due to aches and pains in the testicles, kidneys, and head. I was very frightened, especially about that kidney pains. Unfortunately, the pains indicated damage. I now, months afterwards, have pain in the kidneys every day, and I have actually LOST almost all of my sex drive. The pains indicated damage that seems permanent. Being prediabetic, perhaps I shouldn't have risked kidney damage!!!! But I miss my sex drive more. It's gone, and borax is not only as toxic as salt to me. Not by far."

Hi, I tried borax starting with about 1/32 a teaspoon and working up to 1/4 teaspoon, and I had a negative reaction to it. I only used it for about 2 weeks total, but for the last 3 weeks, since I stopped using it, I have had kidney, testicle, and head aches. The pain in my testicles and my headaches mostly stopped about a week ago, but I am still having problems with kidney pain.

Incidentally the pain decreased when I introduced calcium/magnesium in a 2:1 formula, as I knew that magnesium was good for kidney health, but the other pains continued and I just had to stop in fear of might be happening. I still am having kidney pain - only light pain now - occasionally throughout the day, especially at night when trying to sleep. I REALLY wish I hadn't tried the borax (20 mule team).

I am still looking for an alternative to the borax! As now that I think about family members, I see 3 different conditions that are probably caused by fluoride. Thanks for the information though I wish I hadn't participated in the borax 'trial'."

12/24/2008: Mark from Silver Spring, Maryland writes: "I was pleased to read that there's an inexpensive way to detox from, as well as neutralize, fluoride. Haven't yet found 20 Mule Team Borax in Safeway or Giant. (I live in the Washington, DC area). What about boron supplement? 250 3mg capsules cost $4.00 online from Swanson Vitamins. If it can be substituted, what would be the dosage? Thanks for any information."

[BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS]  11/16/2008: James Wallace from Seattle, Washington / USA writes: "A few years ago I used Borax to reduce fluoride and got a rash on my hands and feet. This is a classical sign of Borax / boron poisoning (I really don't consider it a real poisoning).

Since I really liked what Borax did for me, until I got the rash,I thought if I ever find a way to get ride of the rash I must share it. Mostly because I lost about 15 pounds in 15 weeks while taking Borax (seems that's another side effect of "Borax poisoning").

The thing that worked for me was taking niacin to flush. So you don't want to use flushless niacin. 500 mg to 1000 mg does it for me. I do it as soon as I wake up for the day.

Seems the niacin flush opens the capularies wider and alows larger particles to get out of the hands and feet. The palms of the hands and the soles of the feet are where the Borax rash occurs. It takes awhile to get completely clear of the boran that acumulates there, But releaf from the rash only takes days.

Here's the interesting thing; to make the flushing of boron faster you actually have to quit the niacin until the rash comes back. Then you restart the niacin and it clears up again. In my case this worked asimetricaly. First the sole of my left foot cleared up, then my right palm. After that my right sole and then my left palm.

And now I am clear of Borax / boron poisoning. So now I can take Borax again. It did take a couple of years to get back to normal for me. But if I had figured out how to do the "use niacin for a month and quit until the rash comes backs and start niacin again" I think I could have cleared this up in four to six months.

The possible reason I might have had born acumulation is because I may have smaller capularies than other people.

I don't consider "Borax / boron poisoning" to be a real poisoning because really only the rash and the weightloss are the only side effects.

And the reason I wanted to publish this here is because I don't want any of you to be hesitent to use Borax because of my last post where I said I had gotten the boron rash. And because Borax is safe and effective."

[YEA]  12/13/2007: Bev from Elroy, WI writes: "I had been treated with zithromax for pneumonia but what seemed to trigger the severe, sudden onset of reflux was taking 200mg of ibuprofen twice within the week for pain in my neck during that time. The ibuprofen caused a gastric ulcer since I had been on periodic courses of prednisone earlier for acute asthma which resolved after seven weeks of antibiotics. When I got the pneumonia I had no asthma but a high fever, fatigue and pain in the neck. Steroids can cause ulcers but I didn't think the effect would last that long as I was not taking any at the time. I woke up choking at night with reflux and started protonix. Stopped after about one year and since use digestive enzymes, honey, camomile, ACV with baking soda. Caution: Prevacid ia a fluoridated medication. Along with the reflux, I began severe hypothyroid symptoms I believe caused by Diflucan and Advair which are both fluoridated. Have been doing the borax detox twice a week and have reduced thyroid medication from 3 1/2 to 2 1/2 gr Armour."

[YEA]  09/11/2007: Bev from Elroy, Wisconsin writes: "After reading the info on fluoride on Earth Clinic I realised that the onset of my severe hypothyroid symptoms of extreme fatigue, weight gain, hair loss etc. was caused by taking repeated doses of Flucanazole to prevent yeast during repeated antibiotics for acute asthma [healed after 90 days on Zithromax]. My TSH [thyroid stimulating hormone] is less than .01 which shows hyperthyroidism so I have had a hard time finding a doctor willing to treat me. Now I know it is because the fluoride inhibits the pituitary gland from producing TSH. I live in a fluoridated community so my exposure has been long term. For several years I have had reverse osmosis water but it is very disappointing to find there is no acceptable whole house removal system. It was recommended to me to take cool showers as skin absorption is greater than drinking. I am hoping to convince our city council to drop the fluoride. I was happy to hear that borax can be used for detox. Yesterday I mixed 1/8 tsp of borax and sea salt in one L of water. During the night I awoke with a headache. By morning it was so bad that I vomited the aspirin, snack and enzymes I took to combat it. I couldn't keep anything other than sips down without dry heaves until early evening.I am thinking that is a detox reaction. I am going to hold off another day and dilute it further. I currently take Armour Thyroid and about $400 of supplements, mainly enzymes to prevent reflux, keep spinal alignment, joint stiffness, fatigue, sinus infections, constipation, hair loss and all those other nasty hypothyroid effects. I was also taking the apple cider vinegar and baking soda [about 8 days now] at the same time so may be that was too much at once with the borax. I will keep you posted on my progress. Thank you for this wonderful website."

Incidently, this BORAX & SEA SALT water is extremely ALKALINE with a pH between 8 - 9 pH."

FUNGAL INFECTIONS