Fighting Chemophobia

Book excerpt: Chemophobia is an irrational fear of chemicals. It includes the fear of aluminium in vaccines, methylparaben preservative in cosmetics and formaldehyde residue in shampoo. Since the early 1990s, advances in toxicology have allowed scientists to detect traces of adulterant substances in everyday products - even down to parts per billion concentrations. Toxicological research has shown most of these substances are in such low doses that they pose zero threat to our health. Nonetheless, we get scared. We overreact to harmless, negligible sources of contamination and buy "natural," "organic" and "chemical-free" alternative products at elevated prices because we're psychologically pre-disposed to think they're safer. Consumers are victims of aggressive marketing and misleading labelling from "natural" and "organic" companies, who exploit our psychological quirks to expand their market share. The supposed onslaught of toxic chemicals that special interest groups describe simply isn't happening. Our products are safer than ever, yet people are becoming more scared. Consumers suffer from guilt, anxiety and mental stress of being coaxed into paying a hefty price premium for "natural" skincare products that are neither safer nor more effective than conventional ones. This book explores the history of chemophobia and the recent events that amplified it; and describes how consumers, teachers, doctors, lawmakers and journalists can fight chemophobia by tackling the social issues that underpin it.