Organic, all natural, GMO free, pesticide free, paraben free, sulfate free, etc. These common phrases can be found on the packaging of your frozen peas to your shampoo bottle. The idea of using products that claim to be “chemical free” has become quite a big trend in the past few years. Our society is now developing an erratic fear of chemicals, afraid that chemicals are the culprits of causing cancer or allergies. Is it true though? There are tons of studies, experiments, and research about the horrific aftermath of using chemical laden products, but there are equally just as many studies about how these chemicals are not really that harmful. "Chemical free" might be a better option because there are some chemicals that we probably should not be frequently consuming, but in retrospect, everything is made of chemicals. So how valid are these statements put on consumer products? Due to the little knowledge of chemistry amongst the general population, these labels are acceptable because people do not fully understand the concept of “chemical free”.
If you look on the list of ingredients of any packaged food, you can notice quite a big difference between a normal product and a “chemical free” product. “Kind” is a brand of food that focuses on using non-genetically modified organism (non-GMO) ingredients and keeping it as natural as possible. The company has developed and abided by a motto stating that “if you can’t pronounce an ingredient, it shouldn’t go into your body”, and they hold true to their belief. All the ingredients listed on a Popped Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt granola bar are easily able to be pronounced. This granola bar contains ingredients such as sugar, oats, brown rice, quinoa, honey, and sea salt. These items are not only easily pronounced, but they are also easily understood by people. Everyone is certain of honey, sugar, or sea salt; they are common foods that we use frequently in our lives. Because we use these items daily, we recognize that these are safe for us to ingest, but we fail to recognize that these foods are chemicals as well. We forget that sugar is comprised of the chemicals Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, and sea salt is typically composed of Sodium and Chlorine. Clearly, those are chemicals, but the granola bar is still considered “chemical free” because it does not contain any outrageous chemicals we are not familiar with. Kind and other similar companies use this label to state that it does not have any harsh chemicals but rather simple, “good for you” ingredients.
In order to consider a product that has “chemicals” in it, take for example a Quaker Chewy 90 Calorie Granola Bar. There are some common ingredients in it such as brown sugar, brown rice, and cocoa butter, but then there are ingredients that are questionable: sodium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). These are what make people switch to “chemical free” products. We don’t regularly consume sodium bicarbonate or BHT, and when we see these chemicals listed, it frightens us because what are the effects if we do ingest these items and continue to do so? Since we are unfamiliar with these chemicals, we associate them to be potentially toxic or harmful.
The understanding of chemicals by our society is one that is taken a bit too extreme. We see a chemical we are not familiar with, and we freak out, but it is important to remember that everything is made of chemicals including ourselves! The label “chemical-free” is misleading to our society because nothing in this universe is not comprised of chemicals. It would better to use a label along the lines of “no harsh chemicals” or “semi-natural” depending on the product. This notifies the consumer that there are chemicals but no detrimental chemicals. The concept of “chemical free” is ironic, but it comforts our society knowing that we are not consuming harmful chemicals.
Works Cited
"About KIND | KINDSnacks." KINDSnacks About KIND Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.kindsnacks.com/about/>.
N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.quakeroats.com/products/oat-snacks/chewy-90-calorie-granola/chocolate-chunk.aspx>.
