Chemophobia: Justified Fear?

Chemophobia is the fear of chemicals. At one point or another, I'm sure you've all heard how chemicals are toxic and evil and carcinogenic and stuff like that. You may also have heard that "natural" or "organic" substances are healthier and safer because they come from nature instead of from a lab.

''But is this true? Is shunning and fearing all chemicals justifiable? Does something automatically become good if it is all-natural/organic?''

I don't know about you guys, but I fear that this unchecked chemophobia is leading to a general despising of chemistry in general by the general public. And it might be exposing people to naturally occuring toxins. What say you?

edited 24th Aug '12 11:03:10 AM by ArgentumUranium

Isn't pretty much everything a chemical? The word doesn't really mean what most people think it does.

As Wikipedia says, "Some people who may be described as chemophobic believe that all chemicals are at best untrustworthy, and at worst harmful. This is an incorrect generalization because every substance encountered in the universe is a chemical. Even benign, naturally occurring, or pure substances—including unpolluted air and pure water—are chemicals."

Chemophobia has multiple meanings.

There are Chemophobes that hate and fear all chemicals, and then there are chemophobes who only hate and fear man-made, synthetic, or "unnatural" chemicals.

edited 24th Aug '12 11:44:44 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Well there is one chemical the public hasn't been informed about yet... it:

• is fatal when inhaled
• can cause hypothermia
• contributes to global warming
• decreases the effectiveness of brakes
• causes electrical malfunctions
• is used in cruel animal research
• is found in tumors
• is a major component of acid rain
• is used in disribution of pesticides
• accelerates erosion
• is an important industrial solvent
• can cause severe burns
• is used in nuclear power plants
• is used in making Styrofoam

Why haven't we banned this yet?

I assume you speak of dihydrogen monoxide. In that case, I believe that you forgot that 100% of all murderers have at some point used this substance.

edited 24th Aug '12 12:43:54 PM by Balmung

Ah yes, hydrogen hydroxide - kills literally thousands every year, but does the government do anything about it?

It's still hilarious when you buy something that says "this product contains substances known to cause cancer in the state of California." Good thing I'm not in California!

I hear that the government uses it to make those darn Chemtrails of theirs.

Well lucky you.

edited 24th Aug '12 2:50:51 PM by DeviantBraeburn

@Argentum: Hey, people have tried to get Dihydrogen Monoxide banned before. It's just that for some reason, the government refuses to do it. Probably a conspiracy or something.

*sigh*

Yes using some big words and selective use of facts you can trick people into decrying water without realizing it.

Could we not be a load of smart arses for once? Pretty please?

edited 24th Aug '12 3:33:21 PM by joeyjojo

I think this topic is useless from the get go. It is general common sense induced fear to be afraid of certain chemicals, as well as spiders, habitats of snakes, sudden appearances of centipedes, etc. It is all justified

Maybe we could get some more specific examples? I know some people are afraid of food additives, even if they're found naturally in fruit.

One example that I've seen multiple times is when people talk about homemade soap. I can't find any good examples right now, but you occasionally see people freaking out over the fact that the person is using lye in their soap. Or people talking about how much better their handmade soap is better because it doesn't have chemicals like sodium tallowate in it.

Beef fat is a chemical now?

Well, I think some people use "chemicals" as a shorthand for certain artificial chemicals? I guess it's a fear of the unknown. I'm kind of science illiterate, I admit, and I do prefer to use natural, simple things for face washes or for cleaning, among other things. I'm usually too lazy to actually research things and I just like things that I can get my head around. I'm guessing this is a common mindset and probably somewhat irrational.

edited 24th Aug '12 4:42:39 PM by Pingu

@Shima: I'm assuming they don't know that it's beef tallow. Especially because some of the recipes I saw these comments on called for lard.

Chemophobia is as justifiable as any other irrational fear/hatred based on hearsay and misinformation, which is not much.

It is as justifiable as banning dihydrogen monoxide (yes, someone else has made that joke already, but I'm dead serious: water is a chemical).

edited 24th Aug '12 5:47:25 PM by IraTheSquire

I have a couple acquaintances who are very Serious Business about "eating Healthy". One of them said, in all sincerity, that she won't eat anything with an ingredient in the ingredient list that is more than five syllables long, or with an ingredient whose name she can't pronounce. I've never been mean enough to ask her if she ever eats anything that uses baking soda (That would be 'so-di-um bi-car-bon-ate' — 2 syllables over her limit.) or vinegar ('di-lute a-ce-tic a-cid — also 2 over her limit.)

edited 24th Aug '12 6:51:59 PM by Madrugada

Maddy: I would do it just to wipe the obnoxious off her face.

For whatever reason, a lot of people think the world is composed of more than chemicals in various patterns.

Where do we draw the line? When is something a "chemical" and when is something "natural"? False dichotomies such as this... Is Vitamin C produced in a lab any different from Vitamin C taken from an orange?

On a different tangent, a direct sign of chemophobia is the disturbing trend of shunning modern medicine in favor of alternative therapies.

Are you saying Witch Doctors and Cannibalism are not legitimate replacements for modern medicine?

Maaaaybe... faith healing in particular is definitely iffy. And why would cannibalism be used in alternative medicine?

Quite a few ancient Mesoamerican cultures practiced cannibalism because they thought that consuming parts of a fallen warrior would imbue you with his strength and suchlike.

Sounds rather... humane.~*