Borax
In nature, boron combines to form boric acid and inorganic salts called borates and does not exist by itself. Borax is a form of hydrous sodium borate that occurs in and regions, forming from the evaporation of saline lakes. It is also synthesised as a by-product of borate deposit mining. It is normally colourless, white, or light grey. Naturally occurring borax is translucent due to water in its structure, but develops a white powder on its surface as the water evaporates.

Borax has myriad uses in the modern world, both at home and in industry. In the home borax is used as a laundry detergent booster, cleaner, preservative, fungicide, insecticide, herbicide, and disinfectant.

Disinfectants
Once again simple laundry soap can be used as a disinfectant. In addition there are many essential oils, such as lavender, clove, and tea tree oil (an excellent natural fungicide), that are very antiseptic. Use one teaspoon of essential oil to two cups of water in a spray bottle is not only a fabulous disinfectant, but leaves a wonderful scent in the air. Locating natural essential oils online is simple when you find a site like OzFreeOnline.com. There are thousands of classified ads and searching for what you want is easy once you have registered and logged in. So happy searching.

Mould Killer
Grapefruit seed extract spray can be made by adding one teaspoon of extract to one litre of water. When using this make sure to avoid spraying in your eyes. Check out nutribiotic.com.au whose information on grape seed extract, grapefruit nutrition, grapefruit extract, grapefruit medication, and benefits of grapefruit is fascinating. Caution: Make sure to keep all homemade formulas well labelled, and out of the reach of children.

Hints:
Protect your health by learning what ‘signal words,’ mean on labels. Learn to recognize the warning signs that you have a toxic product in your hands. The best way to protect yourself and your family from toxic products is to read labels and pay particular attention to ‘signal words.’ They are written on most product labels, with the primary purpose of protecting you, but sometimes to tell you about the products’ potential impact on the environment. Unfortunately, some small shops who import these cheaper types of cleaning products from various countries do not have all the chemicals listed and in a situation like that, you should use the old standby, ‘Buyer Beware’.

POISON/DANGER means something extremely toxic. WARNING means moderately toxic. CAUTION denotes a product that is less toxic. There are a few others, called ‘warning words’ such as STRONG SENSITIZER, TOXIC, CARCINOGEN, FLAMMABLE, and CORROSIVE. Watch for all of these.

Here are some of the top four chemical groups we should reject and eliminate. These are pesticides, toxic gases (such as chlorine and ammonia), heavy metals (such as lead and mercury), and volatile organic compounds (such as formaldehyde and solvents). If we eliminate these chemicals, we will go a long way toward solving our environmental and health problems.

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