Borax is less toxic than table salt and is touted as a health remedy in small amounts. Edit: A second source lists borax as slightly more toxic than table salt, still fairly benign. Google borax and arthritis and see the incredible number of claimed health benefits. I only recently learned of this and still need more convincing evidence about all the claims made but I have been using it for several weeks at a very low dose. My hands were getting arthritic and even started growing bony nodules on several finger joints, four days after starting borax my hands started feeling better and weeks later I am totally convinced it is helping. The bursitis in my elbows has also quickly gone away, my left elbow had been hurting for over a year. I am 52 years old and look healthier than most people half my age, I have very good muscle tone for my age but struggled to open a bottle of water for quite a while. My hands feel stronger and no more pain, it really works. I have several herniated discs in my back and the pain and stiffness has improved some also. The pharmaceutical industry knows this and you will read how their influence has had borax banned in Australia and Europe. The fluoride in a single tube of toothpaste will kill a child if eaten but borax would need to be consumed in large quantities for months to reach a toxic level. As one expert said if the same restrictions were used on all chemicals we would have very little left to use. Mineral baths where people go for help with arthritis are very high in boron which is the active ingredient in borax. Some of the other benefits claimed are removal of heavy metals ,stabilizing hormone levels (testosterone and estrogen) and redistributing calcium in your body which is the arthritis helper. I am also feeling a little more upper body strength since using it. In another post a few weeks ago I mentioned my 3 year health decline that had me getting my affairs in order because I was fading fast (lost nearly 70lbs with no medical explanation). I lost all confidence in doctors and hammered the internet to learn while I still had some life in me. Not sure what helped me to get back some of my weight and health but I will offer a couple of tips. Having a root canal removed was a big help, my neuropathy went away in 6 weeks, and my brain fog also. Root canals are always infected, it NEVER EVER goes away, it was proven decades ago and intentionally covered up. The book "Root Canal Cover Up" was written by the an original founder of the root canal society. After he retired he learned how deadly his whole life's work was and wrote the book to expose it. The book will blow your mind at how dangerous root canals are. Google root canal dangers and be aware there are some liars out there who discredit this idea. Another thing is we are in another iodine deficiency epidemic, for the last 100 years or so we have gotten much of our iodine from baked goods but cost control had iodine replaced with bromides and bromide BLOCKS your iodine receptors so you cant even absorb what little we get. I had a goiter that had me going through all kinds of tests and then I went online to discover 80% of goiters are caused by iodine deficiency, took some iodine and the goiter disappeared in weeks. Iodine will also give you a big energy boost if you have been deficient for a while. Don't always trust what your doctor says, he is trained to prescribe pills and surgery they know nothing else but pills and scalpels. My last tip is to take high quality probiotics for gut health that was the one thing I started doing different around the time I started to get better.