The phenomenon has been ascribed both to a reasonable concern over the potential adverse effects of synthetic chemicals, and to an irrational fear of these substances because of misconceptions about their potential for harm, particularly the possibility of certain exposures to some synthetic chemicals elevating an individual's risk of cancer.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) defines chemophobia as an "irrational fear of chemicals".
[5] According to the American Council on Science and Health, chemophobia is a fear of synthetic substances arising from "scare stories" and exaggerated claims about their dangers prevalent in the media.
[6] Despite containing the suffix -phobia, the majority of written work focusing on addressing chemophobia describes it as a non-clinical aversion or prejudice, and not as a phobia in the standard medical definition.
[13] In terms of risk perception, naturally occurring chemicals feel safer than synthetic ones to most people because of the involvement of humans.
[20]According to chemistry professor Pierre Laszlo [fr], chemists have experienced chemophobia from the population at large, and asserts that it is rooted both in irrational notions and in genuine concerns (such as those over chemical warfare and industrial disasters).
[3] Professor Gordon Gribble has written that the start of chemophobia could arguably be attributed to Silent Spring, and that subsequent events such as the contamination of Times Beach and the Bhopal disaster only exacerbated the situation.
[24] Elsewhere, Entine has argued that chemophobia is linked to a precautionary principle in agricultural policy, which could jeopardize the world's ability to feed its ever-expanding population.
[27] Michael Siegrist and Angela Bearth conducted a survey on 8 European Countries —Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom— with a sample of 5,631 participants to measure chemophobia.