When did 'chemical' become a bad word?

moremuffins
moremuffins Posts: 46 Member
edited November 8 in Food and Nutrition
I love me some dihydrogen monoxide after a workout, and I just couldn't live without diatomic oxygen!

You wouldn't exist without chemicals and chemical reactions, so stop the hating!
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Replies

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Better living through chemistry!
  • mommyofjan
    mommyofjan Posts: 65 Member
    :) I think it's the man-made chemicals that get people in an uproar
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    I dunno - there's a thread still going in which someone was convinced that sodium bicarbonate was toxic...
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    I love me some dihydrogen monoxide after a workout, and I just couldn't live without diatomic oxygen!

    You wouldn't exist without chemicals and chemical reactions, so stop the hating!

    when some idiots applied a lack of science to their undereducated understandings of the world and played chicken little.

    Basically, they're a mild variation on the flat earthers who claim evolution is a theory, without understanding what a scientific theory is.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2013/05/29/the-presence-of-a-chemical-is-not-the-same-as-presence-of-risk
    "The problem may not be the “potentially” toxic chemicals that are in products we buy and use every day as much as the zeal with which some individuals and activist groups attempt to convert an association into causation to fit an ideological agenda. If we were to remove all “potentially” toxic products from the shelves of the stores we shop at—there would be nothing left for us to buy."
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited November 2014
    It's not? Folks just get goofy over imprecise labeling.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    I blame the anti-science elected officials...
  • Ruzuki
    Ruzuki Posts: 136 Member
    I hear a lot of people who say stuff like "On no, all chemicals are bad, dont eat anything with chemicals" and hate when I tell them its impossible.
  • TheBeerRunner
    TheBeerRunner Posts: 2,777 Member
    Ignorance is bliss.
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
    Chemical became a bad word around the same time that My Chemical Romance started to get popular. That is fact.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    k8blujay2 wrote: »
    I blame the anti-science elected officials...

    I blame the people, actually. Politicians are money hungry puppets that will dance for money. Voters are the ones who love their particular flavor of dance and hire or re-hire them.

    The blame is with the electorate.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    but then we wouldn't have oreos and reeses- so I'm okay with it.
  • sheldonz42
    sheldonz42 Posts: 233 Member
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)
  • BlackTimber
    BlackTimber Posts: 230 Member
    When Monsanto develops a plant that can absorb herbicides without being harmed. That is really really bad.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    dbmata wrote: »
    k8blujay2 wrote: »
    I blame the anti-science elected officials...

    I blame the people, actually. Politicians are money hungry puppets that will dance for money. Voters are the ones who love their particular flavor of dance and hire or re-hire them.

    The blame is with the electorate.

    Them too... but I was also lumping in elected state school board people in there too... as they are the ones that have a say in what goes into schools.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    k8blujay2 wrote: »
    dbmata wrote: »
    k8blujay2 wrote: »
    I blame the anti-science elected officials...

    I blame the people, actually. Politicians are money hungry puppets that will dance for money. Voters are the ones who love their particular flavor of dance and hire or re-hire them.

    The blame is with the electorate.

    Them too... but I was also lumping in elected state school board people in there too... as they are the ones that have a say in what goes into schools.

    truth.
  • blktngldhrt
    blktngldhrt Posts: 1,053 Member
    edited November 2014
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    Hahaha :)
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    No, not really. I wouldn't consider personal preservation of food as f'n with the food supply. I was referring more to mass production.
  • SLHysell
    SLHysell Posts: 247 Member
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    I love this point. People don't seem to realize how much chemicals and genetic engineering have helped us to live longer and to sustain our increasing population. Basically, we have it so good that we have to make things up to worry about.
  • CJsf1t
    CJsf1t Posts: 414 Member
    All the so called food documentaries that create fear amongst people. They show half truths twist researches and create panic.
  • moremuffins
    moremuffins Posts: 46 Member
    When Monsanto develops a plant that can absorb herbicides without being harmed. That is really really bad.

    This takes things into a whole different arena. There are a whackload of different kinds of herbicides that target different parts of a plant. Not all plants have the target parts, so you have to use a specific herbicide to deal with a specific type of plant. That's how you get broad-spectrum vs narrow-spectrum pesticides.
  • sheldonz42
    sheldonz42 Posts: 233 Member
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    No, not really. I wouldn't consider personal preservation of food as f'n with the food supply. I was referring more to mass production.

    So, more like adding chlorine to mass water supplies to make city drinking water safe.
  • sheldonz42
    sheldonz42 Posts: 233 Member
    SLHysell wrote: »
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    I love this point. People don't seem to realize how much chemicals and genetic engineering have helped us to live longer and to sustain our increasing population. Basically, we have it so good that we have to make things up to worry about.

    And me without a "like" button...
  • moremuffins
    moremuffins Posts: 46 Member
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    I dunno - there's a thread still going in which someone was convinced that sodium bicarbonate was toxic...

    Haha it is fun to mix with acetic acid though
  • peter56765
    peter56765 Posts: 352 Member
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    Or how about adding seasonings to your soup? When it comes right down to it, any and all forms of cooking that involve more than one ingredient are "adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food".

  • renku
    renku Posts: 182 Member
    Can't read it - don't eat it started in the 70's. I'll agree some chemicals aren't bad, some are very harmful and unnecessary in our food.
    Do you need a carcinogenic orange dye in pumpkin spice that is going to be pumped into an overpowering dark cup of coffee, even at a tiny (non-harmful) amount it's still not needed.
  • moremuffins
    moremuffins Posts: 46 Member
    peter56765 wrote: »
    sheldonz42 wrote: »
    As far as diet goes, I think it became a bad word when man starting f'n with the food supply by adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food.

    You mean like when Native Americans would add salt to meat when drying it to better preserve it? (just an example)

    Or how about adding seasonings to your soup? When it comes right down to it, any and all forms of cooking that involve more than one ingredient are "adding chemicals that weren't naturally in the food".

    Even with one ingredient you will find chemicals. Grab a potato. You have starch there. That's a chemical.
  • LabAgility
    LabAgility Posts: 120 Member
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    I dunno - there's a thread still going in which someone was convinced that sodium bicarbonate was toxic...

    They will freak out when they learn that their own pancreas has exocrine functions that include the release of bicarbonate ions to help the pH of the incoming food in their small intestines.

    And for that matter digestion must be insanely terrible... all that HCl... damn you Hydrochloric Acid!!! *shakes fist*

  • moremuffins
    moremuffins Posts: 46 Member
    renku wrote: »
    Can't read it - don't eat it started in the 70's. I'll agree some chemicals aren't bad, some are very harmful and unnecessary in our food.
    Do you need a carcinogenic orange dye in pumpkin spice that is going to be pumped into an overpowering dark cup of coffee, even at a tiny (non-harmful) amount it's still not needed.

    Not being able to read it is not a good excuse to not consume it. Educate yourself. Find some articles from a variety of sources. If you don't like what you find, then don't eat it. Do you know what every single part in your car is called? If not, how do you know it's safe to drive?

    Amount is a key word. Even water, in high enough amounts, can kill you.
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