Borax Side Effects & Safety Guide

This is not the correct way to do it. The proper method is to dissolve the borax 1/32 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon in ONE LITER of drinking water and drink throughout the day. It was not designed to take in pure powder form, usually to rid of autoimmunity disease or a known fluoride poisoning. In rabbit test the dose is roughly lower than this concentration to protect against fluoride poisoning when they added lethal dose of fluoride.

Ted

A woman's dose is 1/8, a man's dose is 1/4 dissolved in one liter of drinking water. I can't say much about this poster since sufficient details are not mentioned, except for the fact that he's prediabetic, which borax has a tendency to normalize blood sugar. So I find this posting fishy on many points. A lot of people through private emails actually take a much larger dose that this.

Loss of sex drive has never been reported except for fluoride. Most report an increase in sex drive. Most of the problems reported are associated with boric acid, not borax because boric is acid. Acid eats up kidney, whether it's boric acid or acid forming foods in general.

So I have many regrets on this email. A genuine poster would also email directly to me before posting them and give sufficient details. An intentionally fake poster will report unusual side effects, lacking in sufficient details, on Earth Clinic without telling me. So you can see why I find this a suspicious post.

Ted

This is a response to "David from Surrey, BC". And it is important for anyone trying Borax as a remedy.

No male should ever expose themselves to Borax or Boric Acid. David's symptoms (testicle and kidney atrophy) are classic case of Boric Acid poisoning -- just a few weeks of daily exposure to Borax is known to cause testicle atrophy and sterility in dogs and is suspected in sterility of humans that work with the chemical. It also damages kidneys and to lesser extent the liver. Please, people do not even let Borax touch your skin if you're a male. Look it up on Google and you'll find articles like http://www.peopleforcleanbeds.org/boric_acid_risks.htm

While there is a threshold below which Borax is fairly safe, if you go over that threshold it is quite dangerous. The threshold is very dependent on body weight -- definitely don't let Borax anywhere near an infant or a pregnant woman. So there certainly may be people who use it without noticeable adverse affect, it is not worth it to have some people seriously injured by it -- it is dangerous advice.

I understand your suspicion of flouride, but then you should be suspicious of all environmental chemical exposure -- why are you exposing yourself to a chemical with more proven risk than flouride?

Response to "Jgrau from Coquitlam, Bc"
Clearly, you have NOT read anything on this Web site regarding the differences between "boric acid" and "borax". They ARE NOT the same!! One is acid aka boric "acid", and one is alkaline - borax. Even the Web site you noted states "boric acid". COME ON, PEOPLE. TAKE THE TIME to "READ". This is a forum for sharing experiences, not one in which to exhibit your shortcomings... Furthermore, boric acid IS used medicinally, often for women who do not respond to conventional therapy for yeast infections. It is put into a capsule, placed into the vaginal canal, and actually works very well.

According to Wikipedia "Borax is also easily converted to boric acid and other borates, which have many applications. Its reaction with hydrochloric acid to form boric acid is: Na2B4O7·10H2O + 2 HCl --> 4 B(OH)3 [or H3BO3] + 2 NaCl + 5 H2O"

There is enough HCl in our stomach so I expect borax is being converted into boric acid inside. Borax is not as rich in boron as boric acid is. Therefore I undestand receiving borax is equivalent to receiving lower doses of boric acid. I'm on day 5 of 1/4 teaspoon of borax solution daily (against mites) and my testicles started to hurt. Sometimes also feeling presence of my kidneys now. I'm terminating the remedy and hoping there was no irreversible damage made.

If the concern of borax or borates is converted to boric acid, then just add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in case the hydrochloric acid of the stomach should convert to boric acid. Also stomach acidity varies greatly throughout the day. It is very high before meals, but is very low acidity after meals. Therefore this can be taken after meals, or before sleep. If kidney problem does occur, simply discontinue them until it does get better. To neutralize any borax negative effect, I usually take magnesium chloride drops and just skip a week or at least three days, allowing the body to get rid of excess borax from the body. Most lower back pain I have found turns out also taking excess calcium and not enough magnesium also.

Yes, I do receive emails of testical pain from taking borax from a few men. I got one person from Vietnam who is an earthclinic reeader and came to Bangkok on a tour packaged, and managed to find time to see me about his hair loss condition. He mentioned that taking borax did cause his testicular pain, but that went away because he masturbated. Apparently what I found was borax caused the pain from higher sperm volume and sperm count and as resulted the masturbation reduced that and made him feel more like a man. In other words more sexually responsive (getting it up) when having sex. It's the viagra effect for people who have low male hormone levels. Apparently, this particular person thought not masturbating was a normal thing because he had no desire, and got used to that line of thought. The borax remedy made him change some behavior to masturbate at least weekly, as he reports of much larger sperm volume he never he had it before. It should be noted that if person does not wish to masturbate at least weekly or need to abstain from sex, then borax is clearly not good.

The other problem concerning borax used is it's tendency to make women get pregnant too easily. If people do not wish to conceive, and have unprotected sex, you get pregnant much more easily. I have over four cases here in Bangkok of women becoming pregnant from taking this, but luckily most of them are married, or wish to have a child, so they were happy. One has been struggling to have a child for 10 years and got pregnant in just 1 month after taking the supplements. It seems it increases women's fertility and men's fertility also, through increasing sperm count and sperm volume. Therefore borax is not something a person will use if that person does not wish to have a child or requires sexual abstinence. The opposite is also true.

Ted, your experiences are interesting and welcome, however I was looking for more informations about boron which I'd like to share. There are many science papers about boron & rats. It was stated sterilization occurred on rats/dogs exposed to boron. 300 mg boron/kg BW/day is usually fatal to rats and around 600 mg/kg BW in single dose is fatal to rats. Based on accidental intake of boron by humans, lethal dose is guessed at 15,000 to 20,000 mg of boric acid, which equals to 3 000 mg of boron, which (70 kg person) is roughly 40 mg boron/kg BW. Looks like rat is more tolerant to boron by the ratio of 10 . Regarding to studies made, it was found that around 20 mg boron/kg BW/day is a level which does not affect testicles/health of rats. Higher boron intake leads to testicles atrophy either temporary or permanent, depends also on dosage. If 20 mg/kg BW/day is a threshold for rat, considering 10 ratio, it could be less than 2 mg/kg/day for human.

For 70 kg person, it is less than 140 mg of boron or 1400 mg of borax (safe for daily human intake). Now 1/4 teaspoon of borax is 5 ml/4 = 1,25 ml of borax or 2,000 mg of borax. Since measuring 1/4 tsp is not accurate in all cases and some people tend to take more the stuff to improve results of remedy, one can expect dosage can reach 4,000 mg/day or 2,500 mg boric acid/day. It is more than 10 % of dosage which is being lethal. It is 3 times more than safe level I guessed above. Therefore I've concerns this remedy/dosage is quite dangerous with strong damaging potential. It is also a fact people experienced side effects. Anyone can search Internet for document boron. Pdf, title 'Boron in Drinking-water', which is a comprehensive review of known facts about boron and laboratory tests on animals.

Interesting information Miroslav.. Thanks.. In my experience I found just a few sips (about 4oz) from a 1/4tsp, per liter solution before bedtime, had relatively strong effects, with increased night sweating and vivid dreams along with a calmness.. My intuition told me this was enough... So I would used up the bottle over a 4 or 5 days. Though I really did like the effect it seemed to wane on the following nights. I also need to hear more positive long term results do this for any legth of time..

There are a couple of wrong information here. The LD50 of boric is 2.66 grams per kilogram, but not borax, but for convenience purpose in calculation I used just 2. gram per kilogram, just to be safe. The borax LD50 is LD50 for borax was 5400 mg/kg in male rats and 5000 in female rats, see Borax Pesticide fact sheet. Toxicity Category IV, Table I, Oral. The correct name for borax is sodium tetraborate decahydrate. It's molecular weight is 381.37 while it has a boron molecular weight is 10. 81. In a typical borax, there is 11.33% boron content. That means there is 4 boron molecules in a sodium tetraborate hexahydrate. The dog and rat studies on testicular atrophy is based on boron content rather then borax content or boric acid content.

So if they were to calculate that the limit of boron is 20 mg per kilogram content per dose, this would mean if I were consuming borax, to get the same amount on a per kilogram basis, I would need to consume 20/.1133 = 176 mg per kilogram per dose. This means, I weigh 70 kilograms, I would need to consume 176 mg x 70 kilogram = 12,320 mg of borax, or 12.32 grams. Assuming that one teaspoons has 4 grams per teaspoon, this would mean consuming 4 teaspoons per dose to get a testicular atrophy. In a typical dose of 1/4 teaspoon this would be only 0.25/4 x100 = 6% of the unsafe dose. Animal studies of LD50 is based on per dose, rather then per day. This means the scientist has to literally stuff the chemicals down the throat. In a typical borax diluted in one liter of water, few people actually drink this in one sitting. The likelihood from suffering from death by water intoxication of taking all 4 teaspoon would require taking 16 liters of water in one sitting.

Sorry, but I can't go into further details, regarding individual studies, I have limited time at the moment.

Ted

Ted, I'm writing the same. Except one important detail: You assume doses for rat (per body weight) can be applied to human. But I'm confident we are not rats. Possible fatal intake for adult human was found at 15 to 20,000 of boric acid (or 40 mg boron/kg BW). And as I noted before, this value was established for a reason. Rat is more tolerant to boron intake likely by a factor of 10. So this is why I'm having concerns about dosage and this is probably the reason why people are reporting adverse effects. It is also worth to warn 1 tsp of borax is not 4 g, but rather about 100 % more.

Miroslav, Have you have got your math wrong by chance? Are you mixing up mg (milligram's) with mcg, µg or ug (microgram's) by chance? Too many folk get their '00's/'000's all mixed up (such a mix-up cause's many, many deaths in hospitals). It seems to me that Ted's arguments (and math) are very, very sound indeed. I personally must report that I have been taking Borax (a [sea salt-like dash / quantity in my porridge daily) for about 3 years, and have nothing but positives to say about it. My partner is a little bit bashful about such matters, but she would otherwise confirm this! I'm nearly 60 by the way, and go about life like a 30 year old. I would hate that folk here on Earth Clinic forego the undoubted all round benefits of borax - as I'm sure some perspicuous posters like 'Bill' and 'Alain' would also heartily attest. Tra-la! It's borax forever for me!

Sorry, don't have time to answer all the details, but briefly please refer to "UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION International Programme on Chemical Safety, Environment Health Criteria 204, Boron"

http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc204.htm

1.1.3 Kinetics and biological monitoring

The pharmacokinetics of boron appear to be quite similar across species in the following respects:

a) Absorption of borates is essentially complete (approximately 95% in humans and rats), and boron appears rapidly in the blood and body tissues of several mammalian species following ingestion.

b) Distribution of boron in mammals appears to occur by passive diffusion throughout the body fluids. In contrast to soft tissues and blood, bone shows selective uptake of boron (>4 times higher than serum) and significantly longer retention times.

c) Metabolism of boric acid is thermodynamically unfavourable in biological systems. Thus, the ionic species in systemic circulation are expected to be equivalent across mammals. This eliminates a major source of potential uncertainty for risk extrapolation, as interspecies differences in enzymatic pathways and/or metabolic rates do not need to be taken into consideration.

d) Elimination kinetics (especially route of elimination and terminal half-life) also appear to be similar for humans and rats. The similarities in pharmacokinetic parameters between humans and rats, the species defining the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for laboratory studies, reduce the uncertainty for risk extrapolation between these two species.

This is in response to Dave from Surrey, BC. My Genetics doctor decided last year, I'm in remission. I said, "Huh, that's funny, I've done the opposite of what you tell me. " With my kidney, liver, and heart condition, I'm told not to take potassium and magnesium. Well, I not only take those, I also take baking soda with the magnesium and potassium, once, twice, or three times a day. Additionally, I did take borax and H202, for four years. All these supplements, I started with small doses, as mentioned on earthclinic. Over time, I increased the dosages of all of these. So, I think there might be something else not quite right, going on with you:)

It seems like boron is the culprit for long-term effects, not necessarily whether it is in acid or salt form.
Borax is about 11% boron, boric acid is about 17% boron

MINIMUM lethal dose of boric acid in human adults 15g - 20g boric acid = 2. 6 g -3. 5 g boron (This is not the LD50. LD50 is defined as the dose that kills 50% of the population, so the LD50 may be somewhat greater than this, but it certainly won't be less than this amount. )

Take a 60 kg individual and that gives 43 mg B/Kg - 58 mg B/Kg minimum lethal dose.
I'm assuming the individual who died at 15 g was 60 Kg, as well as the individual who died at 20g. FYI my fellow Americans, 60 Kg = 132 lbs.

The density of borax is 1.73 g/mL

A teaspoon is 5 mL
So 1/4 of a teaspoon gives (1.73 g/mL)*(1/4)*(5mL) = 2. 16 g = 2160 mg borax = 245 mg For a 60 kg person 245 mg B-> 4 mg B/Kg

So taking 1/4 of a teaspoon of borax gives 10% of the MINIMUM lethal dose.

Now on to the report from the European Center for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC). Report No. 63. This is available free online.

The report is quite long, so I will concentrate on two sets of findings.

First, they review the fertility effects of acute exposure to borax and boric acid, in rats. That is, a one time exposure followed by monitoring. The lowest 'No observable adverse effect level' (NOAEL) is 88 mg B/Kg. They find testicular atrophy and decreased sperm volume above that level, but reversible up to 700 mg B/Kg. Beyond that concentration, the damage was not reversible.

Second, they review the fertility effects of repeated exposure to borax and boric acid. The lowest NOAEL is 17.5 mg/Kg /day for 2 years.

Based on that second review, they calculate a tolerable daily intake (TDI) for humans. Assuming a 60 Kg person:

TDI = NOAEL * 60Kg / [(UF intraspecies)* (UF interspecies)]

They use an interspecies factor of 3, accounting for the fact that humans may not tolerate boron as well as rats, but they state that interspecies differences are expected to be small. 3 is just a large safety margin.
"The toxicokinetics of borates in man and animals is similar irrespective of the route of administration. Borates are not metabolised and so there is no potential source of variation among species, with respect to metabolic competence. The same critical effects are found in all animal species examined. "

They use an intraspecies factor of 10, to account for the fact that some humans may be far more sensitive to boron than others.

They finally arrive at a TDI = 17.5 mg/Kg/day * 60Kg / [3*10] = 35 mg B/day for fertility effects. 1/28 of a teaspoon of borax
This is based on 2 years of daily consumption, so a human could theoretically consume this amount every day for 2 years and experience no adverse fertility effects.

If we apply this same standard to the acute exposure numbers, we get:
88 mg B/Kg * 60 Kg / [3*10] = 176 mg B for fertility effects
This is over the course of a single day. 176 mg B corresponds to 1600 mg of borax or about 1/5 of a teaspoon

Some individuals may be sensitive at this level, and that may explain why some people have reported adverse effects. However, these numbers are based on very large safety margins, so the vast majority of individuals will not have any adverse effects at these levels. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no test for boron sensitivity.

The LOAEL for acute exposure was between 88 and 175 mg B/Kg. Translating that to humans and using the same factors means that adverse effects from a single exposure may start somewhere between 176 mg and 350 mg B in a single day.

I've been using boron on and off at the 1/4 teaspoon per day level for 2 weeks now, and have noticed very good effects. I will post a more detailed report on my own experience later.

I'm not a chemist, but in the calculations set forth on June 29, 2011 it seems the 2160 mg of borax which equals 1/4 tsp should be divided by 60 kg to get 36 mg/kg as the highest dose recommended by Ted. Which would seem to be only 1.38 % of the MINIMUM lethal dose of boron of 2.6-3.5 g which he stated. Really need to understand because I am dealing with so many health issues but really want to try to the borax regimen.

David (Dave) from Surrey, BC Canada that posted on 02/19/2009 saying he took it for 2 weeks then got kidney, testicle, and headaches, only to try it again on 04/15/2009 for 2 days and quitting due to the pain in the same areas.

I'm really glad some of these misinformation artists are dumb. Thank you for exposing yourself Dave!

People that are researching natural remedies, just know that there are many people like this, some paid some not, trying to scare you away from trying things like this.

Yes, indeed, there are many shills for western medicine and disinformation artists out there. In addition, too many people breast fed on western medicine do not want to take responsibility for their own health. If you do not know your body well enough, and do not listen to the signals that your body gives you then how do you expect a 3rd party (aka: the doctor) to do any better than you at healing you? alternative medicine is ALL about taking responsibility for yourself. All I know is that my body doesn't respond well to any other person's idea about cookie-cutter medicine designed to mean "one size fits all"

In response to Joe from Atlanta, who wrote: "The density of borax is 1.73 g/mL"...

mL is a liquid measure and Borax is a powder so I don't see where you get this from. I weighed a level 1/4 teaspoon of Borax on a gram scale and it was less than 800 mg so it only has 88 mg of boron at the most, not 245 mg. Maybe some borax is more dense than mine, so if anyone is concerned they should weigh it in mg and multiply by 0.11 to find the boron content.

I read the link you provided and I notice it is mostly about Boric Acid which I heard shouldn't be confused with Borax. I used Boric Acid to kill very very aggressive cockroaches and can understand how it may be very toxic to the human body. Nonetheless, I am giving Borax a go to see if it is beneficial.

No need to fear either boric acid or borax. Both are very safe for use both internal and external.

Upon ingesting borax it is chemically transformed into boric acid in the stomach.

Boric acid has been used in the food industry as a preservative for many many years up until it was discovered to be healthy then it was quickly eliminated in favor of carcinogenic food preservatives.

Here is an excellent article that will set your mind to ease about borax. It is written by Walter Last a certified toxicologist.

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

The problems I have encountered with facial breakouts, as this came from the fact that one of the person who reported this similar occurrence was taken estogen (Diane) and anti-androgen (androcur). Both the product apparently had a double dose of cyproterone. That caused a shutdown in the adrenals. To make the matter worse, the person also took a lot of whey protein to build muscles, that lead to protein coagulation in the body causing an acne.

In any event, one doesn't take borax without a reason. If a known fluoride poisoning exist, tor that a person has autoimmunity, or a person had rosacea, morgellons, will experience different effect.

If a person happens to have a Morgellon's having demodex mites, the borax DOES cause a breakout as the demodex mites to come out of the skin, killing most of the demdodex mites. Which is the mode of how borax kills the demodex mites. It flushes them out of the body. Same thing with certain types Rosacea, it flushes them out too.

Since I don't know the reason for why borax was taken, the two possibility that I have encountered are the ones I mentioned here. However, people can take it for different reasons and different reactions are encountered.

Ted

I am on Premarin due to having a complete hysterectomy 8 years ago. I'm only 37 but have lost the majority of my sex drive since the surgery. I was hoping the borax would help with the sex drive and to lose weight. I'm also doing the oil pulling and taking Apple Cider Vinegar supplements. Should I quit taking the borax all together?

If, as stated, borax will move flouride out, then I suggest people who use it with flouridated water may be setting themselves up for these side effects. Flouride detox can be very painful, as I found out when I started taking iodine. When the flouride was stirred up and recirculated through my body, I had a lot of bad symptoms. And it takes a while for your body to get rid of it then.

I suggest using purified water, not city water, as it may be flouridated.

I tried drinking at the suggested rate. I found that my hair started falling out much more than normal. A friend told me that that hair falling out is a sign of kidney problems. I stopped drinking and my hair stopped falling out at such a drastic rate.

I will bath in it. I bath my kids in it too. I think your body absorbs things from baths-magnesium, boron. I haven't found any harm in bathing with it. I put about a 1/4 to a 1/3 cup in the water.

In laundry, if you wash colours in hot with laundry soap and about 1/4-1/3 cup of borax the colours come out remarkably bright. The water has to be hot, not warm.

I also experienced hives after taking taking the borax water. I get the breakout on my face, neck, hands, legs, and especially my lower back and buttocks (it fades everywhere but my back/buttocks). I initially thought it was from spending too much time with the family cat (I'm allergic), but when the rash didn't go away after taking an antihistamine, I knew something was up. Borax is the only new remedy I have been trying, so I googled "borax rash" and found similar stories. According to a Wikipedia article on borax, borax poisoning can cause the following symptoms: "a beefy red skin rash affecting palms, soles, buttocks and scrotum has been described. With severe poisoning, erythematous and exfoliative rash, unconsciousness, respiratory depression, and renal failure."

I have also been experiencing hair loss since starting this remedy that I didn't connect to borax until I read of others experiencing this symptom. I have been urinating white specks for the past 2 weeks or so which could be borax buildup. My naturally soft skin has become dry all over my body; my lips are cracked. If I drink too much of the borax/water mixture at once, I will experience headaches and dizziness almost imediately. To me, these side effects indicate that this is not a very safe remedy, and I will discontinue my oral intake of borax at once. I will continue to bathe in borax water about once or twice a week (to treat my recurrent yeast infection) and hope the side effects disappear after I cease oral intake.

To be clear, my dosage is the recommended 1/8 tsp in 1 liter of water sipped throughout the day, 5 days on & 2 days off. I finish about 1/2 to 2/3 of the mixture in one day; I usually stop when I get a slight headache (it worsens if I continue taking it). I am a 115 lb woman. I eat an almost vegan diet (completely vegan for the past 2-3 weeks) and drink plenty of water. I'm not taking any hormones or anything as Ted speculated may be the cause. I also do not have symptoms of Morgellons disease or any other parasitic disorders aside from a recurrent yeast infection I've had for about a month. I started taking the borax because I believed it would help fight off the yeast infection (which I think may also reside in my gut causing constipation).

I had previously been trying whatever remedy was recommended on this website, forgetting that any nonprofessional individual can submit a testimonial. I rarely bothered to do research or even read the side effects posts on this site. I now realize that even "natural remedies" can be dangerous, and I encourage everyone to do their research so that they are aware of any adverse effects before they experience them.

That doesn't sound like hives, it is candida die-off. Candida die-off or sometimes called "candida rash" is a by product of almost every successful detox. I got it about a month after I began eating organic produce and using the Borax remedy and ACV. Mine was all up and down the inside of my arms, but cleared up quicker than yours. The candida is just more concentrated in those areas you speak of.

Borax is used for chelating metals and eliminating flouride. You may want to try chlorella for a while to see if you like that better. If you're wanting to address pH balance, try Ted or Bill's alkalinizing remedies. That will also encurage candida elimination. ACV/baking soda at bedtime will also counteract overnight acidity.

Boron/Borax have been known to work at normalizing the thyroid. This might be what is happening. You did say you are a vegetarian. Vegetarians are known for having unstable thyroid levels due to the lack of animal protein in their diets. If you are uncomfortable with the Borax, try Boron supplements from the health food store. They are made for human cosumption.

I just wanted to reply to any post that discredits the use of Borax (store brand), I have no complaints, aches or pains but just wanted to use the borax for my own peace of mind and study if you will, to see what would happen if I injested it and not the proper way either. I was my own guini pig, so I filled a empty vegie cap "00" with borax and took it w/a cup of water. Waited a day or so, nothing happened so I did it again, still felt no change or ill effect, I continued this for a wk and still got no ill effect or change in urine or stool, no headache, no rash, no flushing or anything, I will report back to this site w/my latest findings. I also have been taking epsom salt the same way for months and feel great, my stomach is flat finally and not bloated after any meals.