Chemophobia Part Three: Today's Society

In the first and second parts of this series of posts, we explored the history of chemophobia, discussing the growth of chemophilia in post one and the development of chemophobia in post two. All of that history has led us to the situation we are in today.

Chemophobia hasn’t gone away. Far from it. Today, chemophobia is a trait of our society that is often overlooked. You don’t have to look far to find products advertising themselves as “all natural” or “chemical free.” Of course, many of those claims are absurd, especially to anyone with enough chemistry knowledge to remember that everything is made of chemicals, so nothing can be free of chemicals. But nonetheless, there are many people who believe that the all-natural or the chemical-free stuff must be better.

And thus far, scientists have been making very little headway against this problem. Again, the chemophobia surrounding vaccines has served as a regrettably excellent example. A single study, now considered fraudulent, that “showed” some link between the MMR vaccine and autism, has led to countless people fearing vaccines, despite the appeals of scientists wielding study upon study refuting those results. Why? Why doesn’t the logic work? If people are shown that they have overreacted, why won’t they change?

Well, the problem is that the concept of the chemicals being safe is a new idea to many people. As we saw in post two, chemophobia has been growing steadily for a very long time. It isn’t just something that’s come out of the blue, and so, the concept that the chemophobia is irrational and that chemicals are good isn’t just a different idea, but rather, a new one. It requires people to change their worldview, and as Dale Carnegie explores in his book How to Win Friends and InfluencePeople, people rarely want to change once they have already made their choice, because at that point, they would be admitting that they were wrong, something that nobody wants to do. And so, new ideas are rejected if they are only pushed though coercion.

So what can be done? Well, one needs to understand that for many people, a life without chemophobia would be a dramatic change. In a culture that for so many years has embraced a fear of the industrial chemicals, produced by those evil corporations, it is very easy to see that as the only logical worldview, and many people will not take kindly to having the change forced down their throats. And so, to get the people to respond the change in the way we want them to, it must be done not through forcing facts at the disillusioned, but rather, acting as relatable friends with the society’s best interests in mind. Otherwise, as Dale Carnegie explored, in response to the new ideas of the chemophiles, society will shut down and dig in deeper.