An very odd and stupid medical trend is spreading online, and one health care worker is using his platform today to try and stop it. Yes, people are eating borax again.
The facepalming medical fad was brought to attention by lab tech and online health care influencer Pakpoom Dejhasadin, who said that borax was being promoted as a remedy for everything from back pain to fungal infections. He noted that the chemical, which causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea if ingested, should definitely not be consumed.
“Right now there is a group that encourages ingesting borax that’s going viral,” the Facebook post read. “And there are believers that are selling it in containers.”
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He said sellers were trying to skirt the law with a loophole.
“Normally, we have a law that prohibits putting it in food, right?” Pakpoom wrote. “But this group isn’t mixing it with food, but they recommend mixing it in water and drinking it straight away.”
Some “free thinkers” have promoted borax as a remedy, with one woman even claiming it cured years of back pain resulting from birth, fungal infections, and even her vaginal discharge.
Just Saturday, one shyster hosted a Facebook live event on eating borax for health that was watched by thousands.
“I can report that humans should eat borax,” the woman wrote. “No need to think too much because research online will always give results stating its unsafe to eat. Well, I’ve been eating it since Jan. 12, for a month now. The results were better than expected.”
Pakpoom attached other testimonials and discussion of its alleged health benefits.
“Excuse me, but are we able to eat borax? I saw my mom mixing it with water and drinking it,” read one. “But I read the label on the container, and it noted that we shouldn’t. Can anyone tell me if we can? I’m worried about my mom, if you’re not supposed to eat it, I will tell her.”
Some observers said they deserved what was coming to them.
“Let these people die,” Titchaya Theevararoj wrote. “So stubborn that they argue until it makes us look stupid. We should welcome them into heaven.”
Also known as sodium borate, the powdery substance is mainly used in household cleaners and insecticides.
In some corners of the web, it is held up as a cure for the usual difficult-to-treat ailments that draw the desperate and gullible, from arthritis to low testosterone. But consuming it won’t only make one sick, large amounts can destroy the kidneys and harm the brain.
Borax was among the insane and medically unsound compounds that anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists promoted during the pandemic.
“It’s true that there hasn’t been anyone who died from ingesting it with water,” noted the page. “But let’s see how your kidneys and liver will fare in the long run. Will you still be strong by then?”
“If nothing is done about it, your parents will end up buying borax and mix it with water too.”
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