organic flea solution/borax and Vermeulen

[Theresa Partington]

Right. I think I am a bit less confused.

Boron the element is in soil in various forms and is important for calcium absorption. People in Jamaica have none in the soil and have a lot of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is rare in Israel which has boron rich soil. It is good for plant growth too.
Borax, the sodium compound is potentially pretty toxic. It irritates the skin and mucus membranes, can cross into the blood and cause other problems, too.

The Chinese use it in food as a preservative and say it causes liver cancer (!) US has banned it as food additive. Used as laundry additive – but probably should wear gloves. Not for babies’ eyes. Biting into plants that contain a lot gives allergic reaction in the mouth and it could swell up completely. Slave owners used that as a way of shutting up ‘mouth’y slaves. (I know, I just said Jamaica did not have much in the soil!) Gardeners used to use it as rite of passage for newbies, a practical joke.
Boracic acid could have the same problems but actually doesn’t, probably because it is extremely diluted and weak before you start. That is the one that is used as an insecticide, douche and eyewash. It could be described as no more toxic than salt, which is extremely toxic given in the wrong dosages to people of the wrong age etc and only good in small quantities for any of us. Borax goes into the blood and boron is slow to eliminate so you might not want to use it too often on children.
I have to say I have never reacted to borax as a cleaner but then I don’t to flash and soap powder either - but anything that kills insects and fungi is probably not the most environment friendly thing in the book – by definition.
Most of the side effects are there in the proving of borax, strangely enough.
It was a very good seminar and I would recommend going to a Vermeulen seminar if you get the chance. He now lives in California so I expect we may be seeing less of him here in future.
Theresa
****I've heard of people here in Perth WA dipping a wet finger in a tub of Borax and eating it - our coastal sandy soils are deficient in Boron. A guy growing his own vegetables who moved from a good soil area to Perth discovered that the deficiency is linked to arthritis. He tried to inform whoever you tell about these things with the result that the Borax available for sale is now labeled as toxic.***

I guess too much of anything can be toxic.