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Chemophobia in Europe and reasons for biased risk perceptions

Nature Chemistry volume 11, pages 1071–1072 (2019)Cite this article

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Very few consumers are aware that chemistry and synthetic chemicals are indispensable in making everyday goods because the products that people buy — such as cell phones, cars and processed foods — are typically far removed from the raw chemicals used in their production.

The human and economic progress that has occurred over the past couple of decades is remarkable1. These advances have only been possible because of an extensive division of labour, but one downside of this development is that consumers typically lack detailed knowledge about how the goods they use in their daily lives are actually produced. This leads laypeople to rely on mental shortcuts when evaluating associated benefits and risks, especially when it comes to chemicals, for example.

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Fig. 1: Surveying chemical knowledge in eight European countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consumer Behaviour, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Siegrist & Angela Bearth

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  1. Michael Siegrist
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  2. Angela Bearth
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The manuscript was jointly prepared by M.S. and A.B.

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Correspondence to Michael Siegrist.

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Siegrist, M., Bearth, A. Chemophobia in Europe and reasons for biased risk perceptions. Nat. Chem. 11, 1071–1072 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0377-8

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