Massachusetts

The Homemade Slime Craze: Is It Safe?

Kids are making the slime and selling it to their friends

Homemade slime is all the rage for kids around the country.

It can be made from ingredients found around the house, like water, glue, food coloring and Borax, a common cleaner used around the house and in laundry.

The slime is almost like Silly Putty, except colorful, more gooey, and homemade. Thanks to do it yourself videos online, kids are making it and then selling it to their friends.

But recent headlines have parents wondering whether this trend is safe.

Dr. Edward Boyer, who works in Emergency Medicine and Toxicology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said Borax is relatively non-toxic.

"There's been some noise made that it's this potentially toxic entity," he said. "I don’t know if there is - aside from some occasional skin irritation - really any reports of toxicity arising from it all.”

Other slime recipes calls for using liquid laundry detergents. Dr. Boyer said to avoid those.

“Detergents have phosphates in them," he said. "Phosphates can actually cause oral burns. You want to make sure you stick with the original recipe, which was Borax.”

Brooke Reese and Cameron Renkin love slime and play it with, but they also sell it to their friends on Instagram under the name @super_duper_slime. Brooke said they sell small containers for $2, medium containers for $4 and large containers for $8.

If their parents aren't busy cleaning up the mess, they are out making supply runs for the girls’ booming slime business.

Glue is a commodity, said Brooke's mother, Dina Reese.

“You cannot find glue in the Metrowest," she said. "You can’t even get it on Amazon because I think they are out of stock.”

Jessica Renkin - Cameron's mom - doesn't mind the mess since the slime trend is teaching her daughter some real life skills.

“It's teaching them business skills," she said. "Simple supply and demand, and it just really took off.”

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