Are chemicals good or bad?

Are chemicals in clothing and food good or bad?

• Are chemicals in clothing, food, makeup and so on, good or bad? What do you think?

• Answer:

  In terms of clothing, if you want and can afford items made solely of linen, cotton, wool and leather, and don't mind them not being able to stretch or fit closely and want them all in muddy earthy colours and off-whites, then you can do without most chemicals. Although that leather didn't tan itself, and the mordaunts used to get the naturally occurring dyes into those fabrics are all chemicals as well and some are from really nasty and hazardous sources. With food, if you always have guaranteed perfect growing conditions, can afford to leave fields fallow, don't mind huge wastage rates due to spoilage, pests and naturally occurring crop diseases, are happy to harvest everything by hand (fuel is a chemical) and don't mind that the field workers get dreadfully sunburnt and skin cancers as they have no sun lotions then you can do without chemicals as well. Once the food is harvested you're going to have to rapidly can, bottle, dry or smoke all of it as fridges and freezers use chemicals. But you won't get far with that, either, as the vinegars and salts you'll want to use are chemicals, and the heat you'll need to sterilise everything and to produce preservative syrups,alcohols and sugars also come from chemical reactions. As for soaps, deododorants, shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste and cosmetics, then forget them all as they are products of the chemical industry as are all plastics including your toothbrush. What you typed your question on and your telephone and almost every item in your home wouldn't exist without chemicals. Last, and by no means least of a hugely incomplete list, what do you think YOU are made of and what makes you tick? I'll leave you to decide whether chemicals are good or bad.