Re: boric acid - let's keep investigating safety

[Guest guest]

Kihun -

Thank you for raising that concern. I know from my own personal

experience that the more chemicals I used (in the environment, on me,

in me) the worse the problem became. Maybe not immediately, but over

time it was a downhill ride as my physical health and ability to

fight things off became compromised.

After completely changing my approach, sticking with things like

peroxide, Dead Sea salts in the bath, organic soaps and lotions, etc,

and doing everything in my power to increase my health and immunity

and to detoxify my body and environment my trip started going

UPHILL. I am not saying that I never seel a bite or a sting, but

rarely and I do NOT feel sick anymore.

I am not saying that this is what others should do; we may have

different things, but whatever each of us has compromising our health

can do nothing but make things worse.

Just be careful.

Bessie

>

> Hi,

>

> Since so many are using or considering using Roach Prufe (boric

acid),

> let's keep investigating the safety of it when used in ways to

combat

> these critters, which is smothering everything in your household

which

> introduces exposure to you, as opposed to just sprinkling a line of

> the powder in crevices and under appliances. Some are applying the

> powder to clothes (during dryer cycle) and/or applying directly to

the

> skin/scalp.

>

> Obviously, this non-traditional use invites lots of convern for

safety.

>

> Here is a link to a fairly recent EPA certified study of boric acid.

>

> http://www.epa.gov/iris/toxreviews/0410-tr.pdf

>

> It's long so I have not read the whole thing but reading the first

few

> pages tells me that boric acid (rather boron compound) is:

> 1. absorbed thru the respitory tract from airborne particles

> 2. not absorbed from intact (aka healthy) skin, but absorbed thru

> damaged skin

> 3. in animal tests, oral exposure (ingestion) resulted in lower

sperm

> count and reduced testicular size.

>

> So 1 has me more worried than 2. Like DE, the powder being

airborne

> is a big concern for me, although members here report that roach

prufe

> has superior cling properties and do not get airborne like DE. I'm

> sure some still do however so I may wear a dust mask the whole

time.

> I hate it but better safe than sorry. 3 is probably the most

concern

> but we're not going to ingest it... but still, I do worry.

>

> ============================

> Here are some snippets from the beginning of the study. You can

draw

> your own conclusion on whether to proceed w/ heavy use of boric

acid.

>

>

> I'll put the conclusion up first:

>

> 6. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS IN THE CHARACTERIZATION OF HAZARD AND DOSE

> RESPONSE

>

> 6.1. HUMAN HAZARD POTENTIAL

> Boron is readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract following

> oral exposure (Schou et al., 1984; Vanderpool et al., 1994). Boron

is

> also absorbed following inhalation exposure, although it is not

clear

> how much is absorbed directly through the mucous membranes of the

> respiratory tract and how much is cleared by mucociliary activity

and

> swallowed (Culver et al., 1994). Boron is not absorbed across

intact

> skin, but is readily absorbed across damaged skin (Draize and

Kelley,

> 1959). Boric acid and borate compounds in the body exist primarily

as

> undissociated boric acid, which distributes evenly throughout the

soft

> tissues of the body (Ku et al., 1991; Naghii and Samman, 1996b).

> Although it does not accumulate in the soft tissues, boron does

> accumulate in bone, reaching steady-state levels approximately 4-

fold

> higher than plasma levels after 1-4 weeks, depending on dose (Ku et

> al., 1991; Chapin et al., 1997). Boric acid is not degraded in the

> body, but can form complexes with various biomolecules by

mechanisms

> that appear to be concentration dependent and reversible (IEHR

1997;

> WHO, 1998a). Boric acid is excreted primarily in the urine. It is

> cleared from the plasma with a half-life of approximately 21 hours

> (Jansen et al., 1984a), but eliminated very slowly from bone

(Chapin

> et al., 1997).

>

>

> 3.1.2. Respiratory Tract Absorption

> Boron is absorbed during inhalation exposure. Culver et al. (1994)

> monitored boron levels in the blood and urine of male workers

exposed

> to borate dust (borax, borax pentahydrate and anhydrous borax) at a

> borax production facility.

> <snip>

> A higher proportion of total boron intake was from air than from

diet,

> and both blood and urine boron were best modeled based on air

> concentration of boron alone (i.e., inclusion of dietary boron as

an

> independent variable did not increase the predictive power of the

> models). These data show that boron was absorbed during the work

day,

> and that borate dust in the air was the source of the additional

boron

> in the blood and urine. However, it is not clear what amount of the

> inhaled boron was actually absorbed through the respiratory tract.

The

> researchers speculated that due to the large size of the dust

> particles in the work area, most of the inhaled borate would have

been

> deposited in the upper respiratory tract, where it could have been

> absorbed directly through the mucous membranes or could have been

> cleared by mucociliary activity and swallowed.

>

>

> 3.1.3. Dermal Absorption

> Boron apparently is not absorbed across intact skin. Draize and

Kelley

> (1959) found no increase in urinary boron in a volunteer given

topical

> application of powdered boric acid (15 g) to the forearm and held

> under occlusion for 4 hours. Friis-Hansen et al. (1982) reported no

> evidence of boron absorption in 22 newborn infants treated dermally

> with ointment containing 3% boric acid for 4-5 days (total dose of

> approximately 16 mg ; plasma boron levels fell over the 5-day

study

> period, as expected for neonates, and did not differ from 10

untreated

> controls. Vignec and Ellis (1954) found minimal difference in blood

or

> urinary boron levels in twelve 1-7 to 10-month-old infants exposed

to

> talcum powder containing 5% boric acid 7-10 times per day for at

least

> 1 month (estimated daily dose of 2.33 g boric acid or 407 mg

> compared with an equal number of untreated controls. An additional

> group of 12 infants with mild to moderate diaper rash during the

test

> period was continued on the powder regimen for 48-72 hours after

> rashes appeared. Their boron blood levels were similar to controls.

> However, there is evidence that boron can be absorbed through more

> severely damaged skin, especially from an aqueous vehicle. Blood

and

> urinary boron levels were increased in six male volunteers with

severe

> skin conditions (e.g., psoriasis, eczema, urticaria) following

topical

> application of an aqueous jelly containing 3% boric acid (Stuttgen

et

> al., 1982). However, urinary boron levels did not increase in skin-

> damaged volunteers given 3% boric acid in an emulsifying ointment.

> Studies in laboratory animals have produced similar results. Boron

was

> not absorbed across intact or mildly abraded skin in rabbits

topically

> administered boric acid as the undiluted powder or at 5% in talc or

> aqueous solution (1.5 hr/day under occlusion for 4 days; 10-15% of

> body surface exposed) (Draize and Kelley, 1959). However, boron was

> readily absorbed across severely damaged skin in rabbits in

proportion

> to the exposure concentration. Rats with intact skin treated

topically

> with 3% boric acid (ointment or aqueous jelly) did not absorb

boron,

> but urinary boron was increased 4- to 8-fold (to 1% of dose)

following

> exposure to boric acid oleaginous ointment and 34-fold (to 23% of

> dose) following exposure to aqueous boric acid in rats with damaged

> skin (Nielsen, 1970).

>