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The reflexive lay dislike for "chemicals" is a bit weird to me, because everything in this world is made up of chemicals. If anything, the ostensibly healthy fo
by michaelochurch 12y ago
The reflexive lay dislike for "chemicals" is a bit weird to me, because everything in this world is made up of chemicals. If anything, the ostensibly healthy foods like fruits and vegetables probably have more chemical complexity and heterogeneity than processed foods.
In terms of pollution and the presence of bad chemicals, it's nothing new. Burning any organic matter releases thousands of chemicals, and for all the romance around wood fires and stoves, those are much more polluting than most industrial processes today.
This isn't to invalidate the core concept of the article, which I can't really evaluate. It seems likely that some of the irritating illnesses people get are due to hypersensitivity to certain chemical agents that, in low doses, most people can tolerate. I just doubt that this is a new problem, given that we've always lived in somewhat of a chemical stew and our air and water have always harbored things that can kill us.
- lukifer 12y agoHonest question: given the incredible variety of chemical compounds in nature, if one wants to describe specifically those that are directly harmful to health, or that trigger an immune response in some persons, what is the optimal umbrella term? ("Toxin" is every bit as overloaded and fuzzy as "chemical" in common parlance.)
- o_____________o 12y agoThat's the problem, isn't it? What is directly harmful to health? Beyond those agents we've universally codified as people poison, "harmful" is a constantly shifting designation that will always be misappropriated by those with a cross to bear over their pet subject. Health is such a complex, nuanced subject that its hard to imagine anything different than the messy passions we're describing.
- lukifer 12y agoThat doesn't address the question. To most people, peanuts aren't harmful, but a small number of people can die due to exposure. A laundry detergent with no effect on most people may cause some to break out in hives. What do you call these substances, whether natural or man-made?
- o_____________o 12y agoI understood. My answer is that outside of outright toxicants, the language will always be reduced to a "fuzzy" value, because the proposition of "harmful" is itself fuzzy, and is doubly so inside a contentious and complex environment.
- dasil003 12y agoIt sort of seems like willful ignorance to not recognize that people living in a modern urban environment are surrounded by a vast array of chemical compounds that did not exist in meaningful quantities before the last century or so.