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CHEM 121 Studioby Learn4Less · UBC CHEM 121

CHEM 121 glossary

Appeal to nature

The fallacy that natural means safe or good and synthetic means harmful. A molecule's properties come from its structure and its dose, not its source, so the argument fails in both directions.

Example

Solanine in green potatoes and aflatoxins in mouldy nuts are entirely natural poisons, while synthetic ascorbic acid is the identical molecule to the vitamin C in an orange.