It's strongly likely the borax (sodium borate), a common household cleaner and rodenticide that Locknar was drinking daily starting on June 6th, contributed to his hypoxic blackout and drowning two months later on August 10th while freediving alone in a creek.Continuing from the blog thread discussing his death:
>>114753 >>114768 >>114769 >>114783 >>114785 >>114801Examine these posts by Locknar carefully:
>>111805>>111901When I was informed of his death two days ago, I thought he was joking about the borax consumption the first time I went through his post history. But thinking about it more, he was always that nutter chasing "alternative health treatments/supplements," seeing big pharma conspiracies in everything (and of course there's truth to that, but he took it to an extreme). Now I'm convinced he was dead serious about it. I mean, FFS, how does he go from reading an article explaining that boron might be an essential trace mineral, to drinking borax?
I'm finding out now there's a whole TikTok / social media challenge on drinking borax:
https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/7/29/23811639/tiktok-borax-challenge-dangerous-laundry-detergenthttps://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/despite-social-media-claims-borax-not-safe-consumeSo what's the big deal with borax consumption? After all, Wikipedia says it's not
that toxic, so it must be safe.
I did some digging, and it turns out long-term oral use of borax has been well-documented to cause "profound anemia" and "hypoplastic anemia." The effects are subtle: they won't show up in most day-to-day activities, and a single large dose won't kill you. The anemia builds up gradually over weeks, which is why he felt fine continuing to drink it.
>boric acid and disodium tetraborate decahydrate induced haematological effects (extramedullary haematopoiesis, decreased Hb and cell volume, presence of hemosiderin in reticular cells of the liver and proximal tubules of the kidney) indicative of increased red blood cell destruction.https://www.echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/737648d6-dbab-c67f-9019-1b4865386521
>a 28 year old women ingested around 0.5 g of boric acid (in baby powder) every day for two years and suffered anaemia, which reversed on ceasing ingestionhttps://euon.echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/679ddd86-ab61-42cb-8bc2-0a8078ba007f
>Lower red blood cell volume and haemoglobin level were reported in all treated females, and in the high dosed males.https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/7937606/annex1_echa+report_boron_and_its_compounds_en.pdf/2d5e9d88-4063-4863-d11f-af8f91ea2843?t=1733385666307
>At the end of the treatment period, haematology in the 1% group revealed reductions in cell volume (11 – 14%) and Hb levels (16 – 17%). The extramedullary haematopoiesis and haematological findings in the high dose animals are indicative of an increased red blood cell destruction at this dose.https://www.echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/737648d6-dbab-c67f-9019-1b4865386521
>The enzyme system of anaerobic glycolysis in erythrocyte was found to be markedly inhibited by addition of borate. It was also found that the levels of methemoglobin in erythrocyte revealed a remarkable tendency to increase after boron was added to erythrocyte.https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jhs1956/12/1/12_1_14/_pdf/-char/enhttps://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13630/trd_austria_boric_acid_en.pdf/6e5463af-1599-4340-96f6-8258c9af93c7
>A 48 year old man was treated for epilepsy for 20 years with approximately 25 g boric tartrate, sodium salt per day>The patient showed dermatitis, apathy, anorexia, alopecia, seborrheic eczema, gingivitis, nausea, emesis, diarrhea, hypoplastic anaemia and a gastric ulcer>All symptoms reversed when the treatment was stopped.>Also Wiley (1904) described a tendency to diminished percentage of hemoglobin in a group of 12 volunteers who were administered borax in food.>Two limit dose studies were conducted on disodium tetraborate anhydrous. In the first study, rats were dosed at 200 (43 mg B) and 2000 mg (430 mg B) /kg/ bw. At 2000 mg (430 mg B)/kg 2/5 male rats died. Slight body weight losses were recorded for both animals. Clinical signs indicated soft faeces, soiling of anogenital area, lethargy, hunched posture, ptosis, hypothermia and wasted appearance.https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13630/trd_austria_boric_acid_en.pdf/6e5463af-1599-4340-96f6-8258c9af93c7What does all this mean for a free diver / breath-hold diver?
>Less oxygen in the blood due to anemia>Less efficient energy use at the cellular level due to metabolic disruption and oxidative stress>Higher risk of catastrophic neurological events like seizures or blackout due to CNS toxicity>Compromised respiratory system from chronic irritationFor a free diver / breath-hold driver, whose entire performance is based on the size of their lung and blood oxygen stores, this is a gigantic handicap. Breath-hold diving demands efficient energy use under extreme hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in body tissues), and consequently it would be an ideal trigger for an anemically-derived blacking out.
I'm sure Locknar was always a decent swimmer and diver and has been freediving for a long time, and was therefore confident in his ability, given he's done that many times before with no issues. But all these accumulated effects from intentional daily borax consumption that he began two months prior most likely resulted in his hypoxic blackout while freediving, followed by drowning with no one around to rescue him.
I kept quiet about all the alternative medical BS he spouted these past few years because I wanted to be polite, knew he had a short temper, and liked the guy despite his eccentricities. But it looks like I may be responsible for his death because I didn't take that post seriously at the time and bother to present him studies on the physiological damage he was doing to himself. I may have killed someone's husband because I neglected to speak up about his borax consumption when it mattered, I assumed he was joking, which ultimately gave him anemia, most likely causing his hypoxic blackout and drowning while he was freediving alone, leaving three children without a father.
