What's natural isn't necessarily good | David Marçal | TEDxPorto
David Marçal |
TEDxPorto
• April 2018
In some contexts there is a kind of 'apartheid' separating natural and 'chemical' products. The argument is tautological: natural products are good because they're natural. And chemical products are bad because they're chemical. And, as in all good stories, the good guys solve the problems created by the villains. The first idea to enable making this story a little more true is that natural products are necessarily chemical. In a broad sense, natural products are produced by any living organism. Cholesterol (produced by all animals) and penicillin (produced by a fungi) are natural products. Natural products aren't necessarily dangerous but may cause serious health issues. In many cases, their risks are unknown. Medicines based on natural products don't go through the demanding process of clinical trials necessary for the approval of a conventional medicine. Their effectiveness and safety are unknown and taking them implies risks that are not quantified.
David Marçal got his PhD in 2008 in Biochemistry from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He is a science writer at Ciência Viva ("Live Science"), a program by the Portuguese Agency for Scientific and Technical Culture, and a coordinator of the GPS.PT network (Global Portuguese Scientists). He published, in co-authorship with Carlos Fiolhais, the books "Darwin shooting and other science stories", “Popcorn with mobile phone and other stories of fake science" and “Science and its enemies". He is also the coordinator and author of the book "All of Science (without the boring bits)" and signed the essay “Pseudoscience."
This talk was delivered at a TEDx event using the TED talks format, but organized independently by the local community. Know more at http://ted.com/tedx