Borax and Boric Acid toxicity

New to the forums. First post.

Do not confuse Boric Acid with Sodium Tetraborate. Comparing the toxicity is like comparing Chlorine Bleach with Sodium Chloride (table salt). Also beware of the new formula for 20 Mule Team Borax which is not Sodium Tetraborate. Always read the label.

(npic. orst. edu / factsheets / 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. "

(Boric Acid/Sodium Borate Salts: HED Chapter of the Tolerance Reassessment Elegibility 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.)

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. For those of us not on the Metric System, 4000 mg is 4 grams, and a 200 pound man weighs about 91 kilograms. A 4g/kg measure would be about 360 grams for that 200 pound / 91 kilo man, which is about 1/3 of a kilo or almost a pound of the stuff (0.8 lbs). 5 g/kg works out to about 450g, which is almost half a kilo or a full pound of it. And if you're having a hard time thinking of how big 2 pounds of Boron salt might be, think of a 2 pound bag of sugar. Actually, eating half of a 2 pound bag of Sugar without stopping could probably cause a human serious health problems. Tweet