Bad science for schools?

The naked woman stands with her back turned. Streaming down her smooth, bronzed shoulders are rivulets of multicoloured slime. The headline in the advertisement is: 'Does your skin really need so many chemical ingredients?' The promise of the new shower products is that they are free of chemicals and contain only what the skin needs. 

It is not unusual for chemicals to be presented in a poor light. Advertisers seem confident that even the readers of upmarket newspapers are susceptible to their messages. Years of compulsory science education have apparently done little to dispel the misconceptions. School chemistry has failed to cultivate the ability to detect 'bad science'.