The idea that drinking bleach has health benefits has been around for a while. There are facebook and youtube "influencers" that peddle this shit in the usual "big pharma doesn't want you to know this" format.
Internet Comment Etiquette made video making fun of them.
people will pay in both cash and attention for the feeling that they know something that ThE NorMieS don't know. Especially when it comes to medicine, where people are desperate for treatments that a) work and b) are affordable. Once they're in the group, they get buckets of social approval for agreeing with and going beyond what the group already believes (this is how echo chambers form and radicalize), they get even more social approval for isolating themselves from the non-believers, and if they go against the grain of the group after they've isolated themselves they're completely alone. The presumption that everyone who falls for stuff like this is just an idiot is part of how it perpetuates.
cases of two infants who developed chronic borate intoxication after their mothers repeatedly dipped their pacifiers in a honey-borax solution, thinking the borax was a safe antiseptic (it isn't).
No argument here. Here's to hoping that the parents poison themselves first... though sadly, you can be as shitty a parent (or human being in general) as you want and still have as many babies as biologically possible, so some babies are just SOL either way. But that's an entirely different subject.
Support or not, those babies have the same genes that lead to baby kiling as their parents; if it's not this generation, then it will be the next one. Stuff like this, proves those whole lineages are not the fittest to survive.
Edit: hopefully clarifying.
Support or not, from a Darwinian point of view, those babies are likely to inherit the same cultural biases and genes conductive to acquiring the same cultural biases as their parents; if left to their own resources, then it likely won't take many more generations until they fail to guarantee the survival of their descendants' descendants, which the whole "survival of the fittest" is really about.
Stuff like this, proves those whole lineages might require external intervention to make them viable... which leads to a whole other can of worms about cultural interventionism.
So basically, people don't understand chemistry and that boric acid and borax are different. Boric Acid has legitimate medical uses and is possibly less toxic than table salt.
I knew a kid in the 8th grade who, after the poor science teacher spent about an hour lecturing us on lab safety, immediately ate a bit of Borax we were using for the experiment.
A report from 1973 outlined the cases of two infants who developed chronic borate intoxication
eating borax can turn your vomit and stool a blue-green color
Interesting...
Some years ago, I saw a documentary about "exorcisms", where the performing priest, in breach of established doctrine, decided to talk about some cases with the reporters. One of the proofs he cited for "demonic possession", was the victim spraying green and blue foam from their mouth.
Makes one think, did their parents try to cure them with borax first?
BTW, al Borate containing cleaning agents are banned in the EU since 2010, so the closest thing one can find right now is some "like Borax" ones.
This is why laws that stop people from being stupid should be removed. It's one thing to tell people doing something is bad, but if you stop stupid people from being themselves, you 1. Perpetuate their stupidity, and 2. They reproduce and have many stupid kids.
2 parts borax 2 parts washing soda 1 part zote and fragrance and you'll have cheap good laundry detergent that doesn't bother sensitive skin. Also how can people be so stupid.
Also if you have a bug problem that needs dealing with, and don't live with pets, toddlers or now apparently anti-vaxxers. 1 part Diatomaceous Earth, 1 part Borax, spread in a thin covering around the affected areas.
When I was a kid my dad would make ant baits out of boric acid and honey, keeping them out of reach of the dog and being very clear with my brother and I that this was poison. I did the same in an apartment a few years ago to take care of an ant problem, and it worked great. About 2 parts honey to 1 part boric acid powder, I think?
I don't know if you were alive in 2018 but I think that's how that panned out with the whole tide pods thing. People talked about it, more idiots ate it, more people talked about it, more idiots ate it, rinse and repeat.
I've only ever purchased Borax to make slime with. I could see it being potentially bad when it's being used like that to give kids something to play with.