One of the most common questions I get asked is “is so-and-so chemical safe?”
I think there are two reasons people ask this question. Firstly, people don’t trust scientists like they used to, and secondly, safety instructions about the use of a particular chemical are often difficult to interpret.
Coming out of the second world war, scientists had a lot of credibility. The atomic bomb was seen as a triumph of science, and as information emerged about various technologies such as radar and sonar and so on, scientists were seen as having the answers for the future.
But, unfortunately, in years to come a few mistakes were made. DDT was seen as one of them, as was the widespread use of certain organophosphorus and organochlorine insecticides that have now been been banned. Lead in petrol was another mistake, and there are a few others.
As a consequence, scientists are no longer believed like we used to be, and although a chemical may be in common use, there sometimes is suspicion surrounding it.
It must be said that this attitude is partly fuelled by misinformation, particularly on the Web. There are many “alternative” products on the market that seek to carve out a niche for themselves by rubbishing traditional products and chemicals.
In other words, they put information cout that says that a particular chemical is toxic or in some way dangerous, but that their (usually “natural”) product is safe.
In this sense, people like naturopaths have a lot to answer for. They haven’t got a clue what they are talking about. The central implication of the term “naturopath” is flawed.
That is, whether or not a product or chemical is natural or synthetic has no bearing whatever upon its usefulness and/or toxicity. Things like cyanide, plutonium, arsenic, and asbestos are all natural. On the other hand, penicillin and paracetamol are both fully synthetic.
You see, everything is a chemical. Whether it occurs naturally or it is made synthetically, it has no bearing whatever on its properties.
So the issue of trust for the chemical industry is not without its basis, but is somewhat confected.
Nevertheless, data about chemical safety is generally freely available these days, what with the internet and all, but it’s simply a question of knowing how to interpret what you are reading.
Tomorrow, we’ll start to plough into it, and look at the use of the various terms that are used, and what their meanings are, and how they are to be interpreted.