Are synthetic chemicals really bad for you?
How is an organic chemical classified as synthetic? Well, it has to do with the difference between the terms ‘natural’ and ‘synthetic.’ We can think of natural organic chemicals as those found in our earth.
Natural chemicals do not need to be made, as they are already present throughout our environment. Examples of natural chemicals range from the oxygen circulating in our air to the pure gold nugget found deep underground.
Emollients soften the skin by preventing water loss. They are used in a wide range of lipsticks, lotions and cosmetics. A number of different natural and synthetic chemicals work as emollients, including beeswax, olive oil, coconut oil and lanolin, as well as petrolatum (petroleum jelly), mineral oil, glycerine, zinc oxide, butyl stearate and diglycol laurate.
It is often assumed that because natural chemicals are part of human evolutionary history, whereas synthetic chemicals are recent, the mechanisms that have evolved in animals to cope with the toxicity of natural chemicals will fail to protect against synthetic chemicals. This assumption is flawed for several reasons (Ames et al. 1990b; Ames et al. 1996 ).
A key misconception is that natural chemicals are somehow safer than manmade ones. The wrongheadedness of this is nicely illustrated by a pair of infographics (above) created by Compound Interest that don’t shy away from admitting synthetic chemicals are often toxic, but also make it clear that whether a chemical is naturally occurring or manmade tells us precisely nothing about its toxicity.
The two most toxic chemicals for humans, that we know of, are botulinum toxin and tetanospasmin. Botulism is caused by botulinum toxin, which is a protein and neurotoxin produced by bacteria spores.
Tetanospasmin is a neurotoxin produced by bacteria that causes Tetanus. I created a bar graph to help us visualize the relative toxicities of the most toxic natural and synthetic chemicals to humans.
More Info: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/synthetic-chemical
