CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY: CHEMICALS FROM OIL AND COAL

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Most of the synthetic chemicals that we come into contact with – including pesticides, petrol, plastics and most solvents – are made from oil or coal. These are known as organic chemicals – which probably sounds like a contradiction in terms to anyone who buys ‘organic’ vegetables! The word organic is being used in two different ways – but with the same etymological root. It means ‘of living things’.

The chemicals that make up living things are all based on chains of carbon atoms, with hydrogen atoms attached to them all along the chain – such molecules are known as hydrocarbons. Until 1828 it was thought that only living things could make such molecules – hence the name ‘organic’. Chemists now know how to make most organic molecules in the laboratory, but the name has stuck.

In the case of ‘organic’ farming, the name was originally used to show that crops were grown using fertilizers derived from living things – manure or compost – rather, than inorganic fertilizers such as nitrates, which are made by chemical processes. As pesticides became more widely used by most farmers, ‘organic’ farming took on a broader meaning – the crops were not sprayed with synthetic pesticides either. So an ‘organically’ grown carrot is one that has not been sprayed with synthetic pesticides – despite the fact that these are ‘organic’ chemicals.