6 CHEMICAL MYTHS DEBUNKED

Are you really 'detoxing'? Can you be 'chemical-free'? Leading scientists explain the chemical reality behind chemical myths in our new guide

1. MYTH: Man-made chemicals are inherently dangerous

REALITY: The chemical reality is that whether a substance is manufactured by people, copied from nature, or extracted directly from nature, tells us nothing much at all about its properties. In terms of chemical safety, "industrial", "synthetic", "artificial" and "man-made" do not necessarily mean damaging and "natural" does not necessarily mean better.

2. MYTH: Synthetic chemicals are causing many cancers and other diseases

REALITY: The chemical reality is that many of the claims about chemicals being 'linked' to diseases simply tell us that a chemical was present when an effect occurred, rather than showing that the chemical causes the effect. Caution is needed in reporting apparent correlations: it is in the nature of scientific experiments that many correlations disappear when a further test is done or they turn out to be explained in other ways.

3. MYTH: Our exposure to a cocktail of chemicals is a ticking time-bomb

REALITY: The chemical reality is that, although the language of "cocktails" and "time bombs" is alarming, neither the presence of chemicals nor the bioaccumulation of them, in themselves, mean that harm is being done. We have always been exposed to many different substances, because nature is a "cocktail of chemicals". Modern technology enables us to detect minuscule amounts of substances, but the presence of such a small amount of a specific substance does not mean that it is having any discernible effect on us or on future generations.

4. MYTH: It is beneficial to avoid man-made chemicals

REALITY: The chemical reality is that, insofar as there is a 'need' for anything, synthesised and man-made chemicals have given societies choices beyond measure about what they are exposed to and the problems they can solve.

5. MYTH: We are subjects in an unregulated, uncontrolled experiment

REALITY: The chemical reality is that there is an extensive regulatory system that strictly controls chemicals - what can be introduced: what experiments can take place, what can be used, for which purpose and how they should be transported, used and disposed of.

6. MYTH: You can lead a chemical-free life

REALITY: The chemical reality is that you cannot lead a chemical-free life, because everything is made of chemicals. Chemicals are substances and chemistry is the science of substances – their structure, their properties and the reactions which change them into other substances. Claims that products are "chemical free" are untrue. There are no alternatives to chemicals, just choices about which chemicals to use and how they are made.

See the full version of 'Making Sense About Chemical Stories' and the images here, produced by @compoundchem and @mabonrhun