Science and bad press on synthetic chemicals
What is truth? and where does it come from? A few centuries ago the answer would have come from religion. Since the doors were open onto the power of rationality with Descartes, Cogito ergo sum, scientists have become the ones to answer these kind of questions replacing faith with science. For the last 300 years science has given us discoveries that have improved our quality of living and extended our life span, then why is it so easy for the general public to believe bad press about synthetic chemicals? Is science loosing credibility? The truth is that we are not only made of a rational brain but also of emotions, and emotions can be so strong that they can override the rational brain. The fact is that people do not trust scientists as much as they used to, despite irrational it might look. Science is a powerful tool but it is not omniscient and infallible: does science know how much it does not know? I give a very simple example: in November I attended a presentation by a BASF scientist promoting nano titanium and showing how safe it was. A few days later I read on Chemistry World the article talking about DNA and lipids damage caused by nano Titanium (page 37, November issue). The good news is that the researchers found the solution to the problem, the bad news is that there are probably products on the market containing nano Titanium causing damage to the consumers. We live in a very complicated world!
