[1][8] The terms tincal and tincar refer to native borax, historically mined from dry lake beds in various parts of Asia.

Native tincal from Tibet, Persia, and other parts of Asia was traded via the Silk Road to the Arabian Peninsula in the 8th century AD.

[12] That may have been from Medieval Latin baurach (another English spelling), borac(-/um/em), borax, along with Spanish borrax (> borraj) and Italian borrace, in the 9th century, and from Arabic bawraq, būraq, bōraq[12] (بورق)[13] as mentioned for example in Kitab al-Tabikh of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq.

Also, borax has been found at many other locations in the Southwestern United States, the Atacama Desert in Chile, newly discovered deposits in Bolivia, and in Tibet and Romania.

In Japan the practice of laying newspapers treated with o-boric acid and borax under buildings has been effective in controlling Coptotermes formosanus and Reticulitermes speratus populations.

The paper concluded: "Borate baits would undoubtably be helpful in the long-term, but do not appear sufficient as a sole method of structural protection.

Borate buffers (usually at pH 8) are also used as preferential equilibration solutions in dimethyl pimelimidate (DMP) based crosslinking reactions.

[33][34] There is evidence that, in addition to reducing the environmental impact, this method achieves better gold recovery for suitable ores and is less expensive.

[38][39] Borax, given the E number E285, is used as a food additive but this use is banned in some countries, such as Australia, China, Thailand and the United States.

[40] As a consequence, certain foods, such as caviar, produced for sale in the United States contain higher levels of salt to assist preservation.

When consumed with boric acid, numerous studies have demonstrated a negative[clarification needed] association between borax and various types of cancers.

[citation needed] Human studies in three borate exposure rich comparison groups (U.S. Borax mine and production facility workers, Chinese boron workers, Turkish residents living near boron rich regions) produced no indicators of developmental toxicity in blood and semen tests.

[66] Borax is absorbed poorly through intact skin, although fatalities have been recorded in persistent treatment of rashes and open wounds with boric acid-containing ointments and bath solutions.

Fatal cases attributed to ingestion include small children mistakenly drinking pesticides or suicide attempts with large volumes of crystals.

[68][69] EPA has determined that, because they are of low toxicity and occur naturally, boric acid and its sodium salts should be exempted from the requirement of a tolerance (maximum residue limit) for all raw agricultural commodities.

[68]Although it cited inconclusive data, a re-evaluation in 2006 by the EPA still found that "There were no signs of toxicity observed during the study and no evidence of cytotoxicity to the target organ.

[71] The Indonesian Directorate of Consumer Protection warns of the risk of liver cancer with high consumption of borax over a period of 5–10 years.

[needs update] A review of the boron toxicity (as boric acid and borates) published in 2012 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health concluded: "It clearly appears that human B [boron] exposures, even in the highest exposed cohorts, are too low to reach the blood (and target tissue) concentrations that would be required to exert adverse effects on reproductive functions.

Since people are already exposed to boric acid naturally through their diets and water, Health Canada advised that exposure from other sources should be reduced as much as possible, especially for children and pregnant women.

With this in mind, the department also announced that certain pesticides that contain boric acid, which are commonly used in homes, will have their registrations cancelled and be phased out of the marketplace.

As well, new, more protective label directions are being introduced for other boric acid pesticides that continue to be registered in Canada (for example, enclosed bait stations and spot treatments using gel formulations).