---
title: "Chemophobia"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemophobia"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:12:56.012554+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Causes and effects ==
According to chemistry professor Pierre Laszlo, chemists have experienced chemophobia from the population at large, and asserts that it is rooted both in irrational notions and in genuine concerns (such as those over chemical warfare and industrial disasters). Gordon Gribble has written that the start of chemophobia could arguably be attributed to Silent Spring (1962), and that subsequent events such as the contamination of Times Beach (1983) and the Bhopal disaster (1984) only exacerbated the situation.
These events have led to association between the word "chemical" and notions of things that unnatural or artificial and also dangerous, and the opposite has occurred, where goods are marketed as "chemical free" or "natural", to avoid this association, which in turn reinforces the misconception that "chemicals" are unnatural and dangerous.  The chemical industry has moved to make chemicals used as flavoring or aromas using biotechnology instead of synthetic chemistry, as the products can be marketed as "natural".
According to the industry advocacy group American Council on Science and Health, chemophobia is a growing phenomenon among the American public and has reached "epidemic" proportions among the general public. In a book published by the Council, Jon Entine writes that this is in part due to the propensity of people to show alarm at the reported presence of chemicals in their body, or in the environment, even when the chemicals are present in "minuscule amounts" which are in fact safe. Elsewhere, Entine has argued that chemophobia is linked to a precautionary principle in agricultural policy, which could jeopardize the world's ability to feed its ever-expanding population.
In the United Kingdom, Sense about Science produced a leaflet aimed at educating celebrities about science, in which it said that humans carry only small amounts of "chemical baggage" and that it is only because of advances in analytical chemistry that we can detect these traces at all.
Philip Abelson argued that the practice of administering huge doses of substances to animals in laboratory experiments, when testing for carcinogenic potential, led to public chemophobia, raising unjustified fears over those substances' effect on humans. He saw an opportunity cost in the "phantom hazards" such testing conjures, as it distracted from attention on known hazards posed to human health.
Michael Siegrist and Angela Bearth conducted a survey on eight European countries – Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom – with a sample of 5,631 participants to measure chemophobia. Results found that 30% of participants were "scared" of chemical substances. Additionally, 40% of participants believed that they "avoid chemical substances in [their] daily lives" and 39% of participants wanted to live in a world that was "chemical free".

== See also ==
Appeal to nature
Hazardous chemicals
Persistent organic pollutants
Organic food
Natural food
Dihydrogen monoxide parody
Genetically modified food controversies
Multiple chemical sensitivity
List of phobias
Non-medical use of the suffix -phobia
Vaccine hesitancy
Water fluoridation
Let Them Eat Precaution

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Blum, Deborah (22 January 2012). "Chemical-free nonsense". Los Angeles Times.
Breslow, Robert (1993). "Let's Put An End to 'Chemophobia'". The Scientist. 7 (7): 12.
Baggett, George (1993). "Causes Of 'Chemophobia' (Letter in reply to Breslow)". The Scientist. 7 (15): 12.
Goldberg, Alexander F. G.; Chemjobber, C. J. (2014). "A comprehensive overview of chemical-free consumer products". Nature Chemistry. 6 (1): 1–2. Bibcode:2014NatCh...6....1F. doi:10.1038/nchem.1827. PMID 24345928. S2CID 205292395. Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
Kennedy, James. (2016) Are 'Natural' And 'Chemical-free' Always Best For Your Baby? HuffPost.
Kennedy, James. "'Chemophobia' is irrational, harmful – and hard to break". Aeon. (contains listing of the "ingredients" of a banana)
Marks, T.A. (1993). "Birth defects, cancer, chemicals, and public hysteria". Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. 17 (2): 136–44. doi:10.1006/rtph.1993.1013. PMID 8484023.
Michaelis, Anthony R. (1996). "Stop – chemophobia". Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. 21 (2): 130–139. Bibcode:1996ISRv...21..130M. doi:10.1179/isr.1996.21.2.130.
Ropeik, David (2015). "On the roots of, and solutions to, the persistent battle between "chemonoia" and rationalist denialism of the subjective nature of human cognition". Human & Experimental Toxicology. 34 (12): 1272–1278. Bibcode:2015HETox..34.1272R. doi:10.1177/0960327115603592. PMID 26614815.
Worman, James J.; Gribble, Gordon W. (1992). "Herbicides and chemophobia". Journal of Arboriculture. 18 (1): 10–14.