It's a good article. Human beings are wired to believe that things that are "natural" or "pure" are better than things that are "artificial." It's a quality o

It's a good article. Human beings are wired to believe that things that are "natural" or "pure" are better than things that are "artificial." It's a quality of human nature that seems to show up in all cultures. Steven Pinker lists many of them in The Blank Slate. It pretty much explains the huge market in "organic" food. Since people have a bias for the "natural" it is hard to have any sort of a conversation about what chemicals might be good for you that don't occur naturally. And, people are unduly scared of "artificial" chemicals while turning a blind eye toward the dangers than many "natural" chemicals have. Inclination toward "natural" makes a lot of sense as an evolved bias. Doubtless, it kept our ancestors alive. But our bodies don't have any sort of magical scanner to detect whether something is natural or not, they simply reacts in mixed ways. To us, some of those reactions are positive or negative, even for the same chemical.