Tackling Anti-Chemical, Unscientific Nonsense

“Manmade or Natural, Tasty or Toxic, They’re All Chemicals …” by Mark Lorch.
Chemicals are bad, right? Otherwise why would so many purveyors of all things healthy proudly proclaim their products to be “chemical-free” and why would phrases such as “it’s chock full of chemicals” be so commonly used to imply something is unnatural and therefore inherently dangerous? On one level these phrases are meaningless – after all, chemicals are everywhere, in everything. From the air that we breathe to the pills we pop, it’s all chemicals. Conversely, many would argue (the Advertising Standards Agency included) that we all know perfectly well what “chemical-free” means and those who rail against the absurdity of the phrase are just being pedantic. Even the Oxford Dictionary defines a chemical as “a distinct compound or substance, especially one which has been artificially prepared or purified.” Read more.