The people posting about chemicals-in-the-food and stuff like that in my area definitely don't see high fructose corn syrup as a chemical - "it comes from corn

The people posting about chemicals-in-the-food and stuff like that in my area definitely don't see high fructose corn syrup as a chemical - "it comes from corn and corn is grown in fields" is all I ever got out of that discussion - but definitely do see stevia as one. Maybe the definition is more of a regional thing. Or maybe it's just more BS. In any case I don't think it's remotely consistent or concrete.