Why do many people think anything natural is good but things manmade or synthetic are bad?

Many natural things are harmful, such as E. coli, poisonous mushrooms and lots of other plants, rattlesnake venom, black widow spiders, etc., so "natural" doesn't really equate with good. Chemists can make most compounds (even the ones found in nature) and can make them extremely pure whereas even the good stuff from nature is of variable quality and often very impure. So, doesn't it follow that manmade chemicals are usually better than the same chemicals that occur in nature? What's wrong with "artificial" (synthetic or manmade)?

Why do many people think anything natural is good but things manmade or synthetic are bad?
It's really just psychological. Many people feel that things that are natural are better simply because they occur naturally. In a religious context, things that are created by their great God should be better for them than things created by potentially evil men. I'd venture to say most people like this might also feel that we don't know enough about ourselves and chemicals to know what reactions we do and don't have to them...which would be entirely because they are ignorant and lacking of that knowledge themselves. These are probably the same people that think cell phone radio waves are going to give us cancer.
Reply:agree, i gets me whenever i hear people genuinely convinced that ALL HERBS ARE essentially HARMLESS just because they re natural. never heard of nightshade, ricinus, etc.



People unable to accept that some madmade stuff simply can be harmless. Report It
Reply:Really it depends on the context. I agree with you that you cannot automatically say natural=good and artificial=bad. For instance, plastic is much better for keeping moisture out of something than if I were wrapping it in, say, pigskin.



However, there is a lot we don't know about how artificial compounds affect us and often we learn them late and harm ourselves. Saccharine isn't really good for our endocrine systems. Thalidomide wasn't really a good option for pain relief for pregnant woman.



The problem with "pure" substances is that sometimes our bodies actually *need* the additional compounds in an "impure" chemical. We've discovered recently that a lot of vitamins don't work on their own - so taking a vitamin supplement that doesn't include the pairing to "activate" the vitamins in our systems is basically no better than eating dirt.



Alternatively, the "pure" form can overwhelm our systems and kill us. For instance, you'd have eat an awful lot of apple seeds to get enough cyanide to kill you. But even a tiny dose of pure cyanide manufactured in a lab can kill you.



I know I'm talking in generalities here, but does that help answer your question?
Reply:People think that "man-made" is bad because 90% of the time, it is.
Reply:probably because profit outwieghs the benfit of everything.



such as soap. you can make it where it retains its natural skin conditioners, or you can goto the store and buy the stuff that has them removed and sold back to you in the form of hand lotion.
Reply:A physician told me synthetic fabrics cause cancer. He suggested I wear only natural fibers, wool, silk, cotton, etc.
Reply:The problem is not that one is better than the other, part of the problem is that man tends to become lackadaisical and bored with his repetitious life and so screws up his work, ergo, he messes up the nutritional quality of our oral intake. ( That is one side.) Nature has it's reasons as it has it's seasons for the spoiling of natural resources. Recycling to make the next generation feed and then grow. Is nature better because of the natural progression? In chemistry we see that there have been recalls on products with the. " It's good for what ails you" slogan. Yea, I take manufactured " Vitamins " because I can not afford the natural, organic variety. Just thoughts that may correlate.

Take care and God Bless.
Reply:i disagree with somegamin, things that are man made are bad because they normally affect things that are used to nature's and if something that is man made goes wrong nothing can stop it rather than natural, like coloning people say cloning is bad because the organisms are not immune to natural diesases that over millions of years the body fought to get immune to but if your born naturally your parents immunity to natural dieseases goes down to you, simply put nature defense itself from natural things not things man made
Reply:yeah but you're not supposed to eat E coli or poisonous mushrooms and what not, and venom can be used for good. natural things that are bad can also be used for good. bad things that are man made, usually can't be used for good. thats the difference.
Reply:I hear what you are saying and agree somewhat.



I went off most of the drugs the doctors had been giving me (bad side effects). I told Mr. I want to go natural. He informed me that not all herbs are good for the body and to be careful.



So if one looks at it like this...We have most everything you mentioned up there where we live. Nothing like a black widow in your home!!

I feel nothing is "wrong" with synthetic man made materials, food, drugs. Like everything just be careful.

Look at the fur trade? We no longer have to kill critters for there fur....



"which would be entirely because they are ignorant and lacking of that knowledge themselves. These are probably the same people that think cell phone radio waves are going to give us cancer."

Please add doctors to this lol! Here try this drug, no try this one lets see what it does to you....Hear try this one it is new on the market....oh by the way we found out this causes this and that ...so maybe we should change that pill.....