“I prefer eating natural. All these chemicals they put in our food nowadays can’t be good for you.”
I hear this sentiment almost everywhere I go now. It used to be a left-wing belief, but increasingly one hears it on the right too, which partially explains the popularity of Bobby Kennedy, Jr., among conservatives.
This belief baffles me, though. It seems to be just another iteration of the liberal creed that nature is best left alone. But that’s simply not true. In his eye-opening book Fossil Future, Alex Epstein writes: “Nature gives us an extremely dangerous environment in the form of a naturally dangerous climate and naturally dangerous predators large and small (including microscopic predators such as infectious diseases). … The enormous natural danger of the planet is a major reason why…life expectancy was so low for so long.”
The raw state of nature doesn’t provide us with penicillin, refrigerators, earthquake-resistant houses, air-conditioning, life-saving helicopters, cheap water purifiers, epidurals, or plastic. Only human intervention has provided us with these modern miracles. Conservatives used to appreciate this fact. They used to understand that God gave us brains to improve both ourselves and our surroundings. That He never intended man to remain tied to the earth or living in a jungle hunting animals. That He wants man to be His partner in creation.
Many conservatives still hold these views, but when it comes to food production, they suddenly change their tune. All of a sudden, they become extremely suspicious of human intervention. Why?
Thanks to this intervention, you can, for example, buy an apple in any Western supermarket in the world for less than $1 at any time of year. That wasn’t always the case. Many fruits used to only be available in certain seasons. Crops were at the mercy of the weather and insects. Food spoiled faster and was thus more expensive and less available.
Thanks to pesticides, though, and other forms of human intervention, we now live in a world of abundance. Not only do farmers grow more food, but the shelf life of that food is much longer, which enables store owners to buy in greater bulk and thus charge their customers far less.
But what about all those “chemicals” in our food? Don’t they harm us?
First of all, “chemical” shouldn’t be a scary word. Water is a chemical. The human body is composed of chemicals. Every element on the periodic table that we memorize in high school is a chemical. People who inveigh against “chemicals” are thus either ignorant or dishonest.
Of course, what many people mean when they say “chemicals” is “synthetic chemicals” or “man-made chemical compounds.” They’re not “natural” – but so what? Without unnatural chemicals, we would live like primitive men. Chlorine is an unnatural chemical. Do people not want to swim in clean water or don clean clothes? Plastic also consists of unnatural chemicals. Do we not appreciate plastic bottles, plastic bags, and the numerous other inexpensive goods we can buy thanks to plastic?
We constantly benefit from human intervention. Why should we assume it to be uniquely harmful when it comes to food? We use “unnatural” light in our homes, speak to people around the world with the “unnatural” manipulation of radio waves, relieve headaches with the “unnatural” combination of elements, enjoy the warmth of “unnatural” fibers, go to work in “unnaturally” tall buildings, but we can’t make our food taste better, look better, and last longer with “unnatural” chemicals? Why?
I am no scientist. I vouch for no particular food. Perhaps rigorous testing will show some unnatural chemicals in food to be harmful. Most of these chemicals have already been tested, but I’m open to the possibility that previous tests yielded incorrect results thanks to corruption or other factors.
What I oppose is our knee-jerk negative reaction to everything manmade. This reaction is improper. Not only does it ignore the many “unnatural” inventions we benefit from daily, but it runs counter to the tenets of modern Western civilization.
Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the former chief editor of The Jewish Press and the author/editor of 10 books, including “Nuggets of Gold: Donald Trump on Marriage, War, Plastic Straws, and 330 Other Topics.”
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