Editing Boric acid (section)

===Insecticidal===
Boric acid was first registered in the US as an insecticide in 1948 for control of [[cockroach]]es, [[termite]]s, [[fire ant]]s, [[flea]]s, [[silverfish]], and many other [[insect]]s. The product is generally considered safe in household kitchens to control cockroaches and ants. It acts as a stomach poison affecting the insects' [[metabolism]]. The dry powder is [[abrasive]] to the insects' [[exoskeleton]]s.<ref name=ABC/><ref name=boone/><ref name=REDF2022/> It is in non-specific [[Insecticide Resistance Action Committee#Table of modes of action and classes of insecticide|IRAC]] group 8D. Boric acid is also known as "the gift that keeps on killing" because cockroaches cross over lightly dusted areas and do not die immediately. Still, the effect is like shards of glass cutting them apart. This often allows a cockroach to return to the nest, where it soon dies. Cockroaches, being [[Cannibalism (zoology)|cannibalistic]], eat others killed by contact or consumption of boric acid, consuming the powder trapped in the dead roach and killing them, too.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Boric acid is also widely used in wood treatment to protect against termites. The full complexity of its mechanism is not fully understood. Still, aside from causing dose-dependent mortality, boric acid causes [[dysbiosis]] in the [[Reticulitermes flavipes|Eastern Subterranean termite]], leading to the opportunistic rise of insect pathogens that could be contributing to mortality.<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Journal of Economic Entomology |doi=10.1093/jee/toae221 |title=Lethal disruption of the bacterial gut community in Eastern subterranean termite caused by boric acid |date=2024 |last1=Ashbrook |first1=Aaron R. |last2=Schwarz |first2=Melbert |last3=Schal |first3=Coby |last4=Mikaelyan |first4=Aram |volume=117 |issue=6 |pages=2599–2607 |pmid=39401329 |doi-access=free |pmc=11682946 }}</ref> 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. Decaying wood treated with 0.25 to 0.5 percent [[disodium octaborate]] ({{chem2|Na2B8O13*4H2O}}, commonly abbreviated DOT) is also effective for baiting [[Heterotermes aureus]] populations. A 1997 paper concluded: "Borate baits would undoubtedly be helpful in the long-term, but do not appear sufficient as a sole method of structural protection."<ref>{{cite journal  | title = Review of recent research on the use of borates for termite prevention | journal = In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Wood Protection with Diffusible Preservatives and Pesticides |date=1997 | url = http://manoa.hawaii.edu/ctahr/termite/aboutcontact/grace/pdfs/123.pdf  | pages = 85–92  }}</ref>