Do our students suffer from chemophobia?

Chemophobia, or the fear of chemicals, has long been of concern to the chemistry community. The population needs to be scientifically literate and school curriculums have evolved to address this. However, marketing still sways opinion by exploiting chemophobia through terms such as natural, organic, eco, or even the implausible chemical-free. David Read explains why chemistry teaching can and should play a key role in positively influencing attitudes towards the discipline, its practitioners and outputs.