Health Canada is advising Canadians to avoid using boric acid when making arts and crafts or homemade pesticide.

If a person is overexposed to boric acid, it has the potential to cause developmental and reproductive health effects, Health Canada said on their site.

Arts and crafts, including homemade slime or modelling clay, tend to have boric acid as an ingredient.

Health Canada said that boron or borax, is found in the environment and people are exposed naturally through food and drinking water. People can also be exposed to boric acid through multiple products, including pesticides, cleaning products, cosmetics, swimming pool and spa chemicals and so on.

“Since Canadians are already exposed to boric acid naturally through their diets and water, Health Canada is advising that exposure from other sources should be reduced as much as possible, especially for children and pregnant women,” Health Canada said on their site. “The concern is not with any one product, but rather multiple exposures from a variety of sources.”

Health Canada said that new, more protective label directions are being introduced for other boric acid pesticides that continue to be registered in Canada.

For more information head to Health Canada’s website.