Rich in color, soft and easy to shape, there is a kind of slippery pleasure when pinched. This "net red toy" crystal clay (also known as slime) not only won the love of small friends, but also captured the hearts of some adults (it is said to help release stress).
Net red crystal clay
Moreover, because of the characteristics of semi-solidification and strong plasticity, coupled with the publicity that it can well develop children's creativity and imagination, crystal clay has also become a magical toy for fun and education.
However, some time ago, CCTV's financial channel specially broadcast a program pointing out that the borax contained in this toy is toxic. Crystal mud attracted widespread attention overnight, becoming a poisonous toy that parents feared, and borax, which was not well known to many people, was also pushed to the cusp of the storm.
Image source @ CCTV quick look so what is borax in the end? Is there really such a horror? Isn't borax also used as a medicine to treat diseases? And as a raw material, borax has a large number of applications in many aspects such as industry and beauty...
What is borax?
Borax, an inorganic compound, colorless translucent crystal or white powder, hardness 2-2.5, brittle nature, density between 1.69-1.72, easily soluble in water, slightly soluble in alcohol, melting will become a colorless glass-like substance.
borax
The mainland is rich in borax ore, and borax, which is listed as a rare element by some countries, has become common and common in our country, so borax is also widely used in pesticides, fertilizers, industrial printing and dyeing, antifreeze and other aspects of the continent.
People add borax when producing glass, which can better increase the ultraviolet transmittance of glass, which can make the light transmittance of glass better, and also ensure that the glass produced is more transparent and more heat-resistant.
The addition of borax to ceramic products will make the ceramic surface enamel stronger, less likely to fall off, and the finish is also higher.
Ceramic products, image source hippopx
We often see that in some welding operations or jewelry processing scenes, the master workers will use a white powdery substance, which is borax. Because it can remove oxides from the metal surface, it can effectively purify the surface layer of the joint, thereby improving the accuracy and firmness of welding.
Borax of "good and evil"
Borax has antiseptic, bactericidal properties, the mainland has thousands of years of use of borax as a topical drug history, mainly used for disinfection and antiseptic of skin and mucous membranes, removal of erosion and so on. Today, borax is still made into boric acid for skin disinfection.
The well-known traditional Chinese medicine ice boron powder mainly applies the anti-corrosion and anti-inflammatory effect of borax, which has a good therapeutic effect on mouth ulcers.
However, for this reason, some unscrupulous merchants secretly use borax in pork curing or food preservative in the hope of increasing the shelf life of food.
Because borax can increase the length of the starch amyl chain, borax is often used as a crosslinker in glue and widely used in industry. Some "smart" people learn to draw gourds and apply borax to food starch, such as frying fritters, producing sachima, and making rice dumplings.
The practice of adding borax to crystal clay toys discussed in this article actually takes advantage of this crosslinking property of borax.
Some unscrupulous merchants will add borax to the rice dumplings, the image comes from hippox
However, after all, food is not an industrial product, and our flesh and blood can certainly not withstand the stimulation and damage caused by borax. Therefore, the mainland has long been clearly stipulated in the "Measures for the Administration of Food Additive Hygiene" and the "Food Sanitation Law" that the use of borax as a food additive is strictly prohibited.
So what are the hazards of borax?
In fact, the harm of borax itself is not very high, even if it is in contact with the skin, its irritation is also very small, it will not cause direct damage, and its toxicity is mainly manifested in the toxic changes that occur after contact with the stomach and intestines.
When we mistakenly eat food containing borax, the sodium perborate in borax will interact with the acid in the stomach and intestines, decomposing to produce borate and peroxide (such as hydrogen peroxide) The toxicity of the latter must be slightly heard.
Hydrogen peroxide is a highly toxic substance that can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort (vomiting abdominal pain, diarrhea, etc.), and even destroy the central nervous system, resulting in kidney toxicity and death.
It is estimated that the minimum dose of borate lethality produced by the borax reaction is only 2-3 grams for infants, 5-6 grams for children, and 15-20 grams for adults.
Although children play with crystal clay, they generally do not put it directly in their mouths and eat it, resulting in the above terrible poisoning phenomenon. However, because children often play with this toy, the palms and skin will be repeatedly in contact, if the skin has a wound or the defense is not strong, borax may be absorbed into the blood through the skin, accumulating little by little, and eventually causing substantial damage.
And when children are playing, if they do not pay attention to hygiene, do not wash their hands and take something to eat, or wipe their eyes with dirty hands, pick their nostrils, etc., the borax retained by their hands will enter the mucous membrane, thus entering the stomach and intestines, resulting in more direct harm.
Can crystal clay still be played?
Speaking of this, everyone should understand that the treatment of crystal mud toys cannot be summed up in a word, but should be objectively analyzed and treated scientifically.
If children really like crystal clay, like to use this toy to design a variety of shapes, play their own creative potential, we must guide correctly, tell children the correct use of the method and the way to avoid harm, so that children learn to take the initiative to control, take the initiative to prevent.
Wear gloves as much as possible when playing, do a good job of protection, or use special tools to reduce the chance of crystal mud contact with the skin; help children develop good hygiene habits, wash their hands frequently, do not put their fingers in the mouth at will, and eliminate the possibility of dangerous substances.
Borax is also added to many ultra-light clays, as shown in Tadpole Jun
Just as electricity brings light to humanity and costs many lives, borax has two sides. It is only a substance in nature, it is inherently faultless, and its good or bad properties are only relative to human needs and applications.
As long as we understand its characteristics and take the initiative to protect and avoid, we can use its good characteristics and avoid it from causing us harm.
Therefore, in the face of beautiful crystal mud, we do not need to kill with a stick, nor can we let it cause harm to children.
END
Review expert: Sun Yafei, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Tsinghua University
Tadpole stave original article/reprint indicates the source
Editor-in-charge/Heart & Paper