The incomparable Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society in Montreal, and ACSH friend, has published a very informative (and humorous) blog on HuffPost called A Treatment for Chemophobia.
He covers many of the same misconceptions that we routinely discuss here at ACSH, but does so in his own unique style. Here are a few quotes from Joe s piece.
[S]omehow chemical has become a dirty word, synonymous with toxin, and chemical-free is now a popular, albeit nonsensical, advertising slogan.
And what exactly does one food producer's promise to use only real ingredients in its pizzas mean? Were they using imaginary ingredients before? (ACSH comment: this is hilarious).
Chemical absurdity has even made it into the courtroom. The prosecutor in a gang fight trial in California described "a situation very much like nitrogen meeting glycerin; it was guaranteed that there would be an explosion of violence." (ACSH comment: Oy)
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom says, if there is anyone better than Joe at writing about this subject, I haven t met him or her yet. I highly recommend that you read his entire piece, which can be found here.