Chelation as a metaphor for the effective fight against chemophobia

Chemophobia cured by chemists: chemists as children of the Sun

“…Chemists thus have a number of interesting and in a way exciting tasks ahead of them (e.g., related to the threats of new diseases and pandemics, but also to environmental damage, aging and increasing populations, and urbanization [ 33 ]), but they face a lack of new talents. This is the consequence of chemophobia which we [ 14 – 16 , 34 ] define as a long-lasting and persistent irrational fear of chemistry and chemical substances and a strenuous effort to avoid them, causing people to become hypersensitive or even intolerant in this respect.…”

Chemophobia versus the identity of chemists: heroes of chemistry as an effective communication strategy

“…Far from it-in reality the widespread aversion to chemistry, this "modern Inquisition" [10] prevails. Chemophobia-which we [11][12][13] define as a long-lasting and persistent irrational fear of chemistry and chemical substances and a strenuous effort to avoid them, causing people to become hypersensitive or even intolerant in this respect-takes its toll:…”

“…Although we chemists have made the world a better place to live, the imaginary picture that society holds of chemistry and chemists differs from the real one. Without a fundamental change, a negative perception of chemistry will continue to mean not only less social acceptance of chemistry, but also less funding for new research, further narrowing of space for what is allowed in chemistry, and also fewer new chemical talents [12,13]. This can prevent the molecules containing solutions to the problems of humanity from being synthesized and made available to people and thus will further limit us in our work for the benefit of humankind [38].…”

“…While we so far have focused on the most sensitive part of chemistry communication, i.e., the fight against chemophobia [12,13], we are convinced that the time has come for an overall change in chemistry communication. The current, predominant way for chemists to interact with the non-chemical world might be education, though its possibilities have been largely exhausted [39,40].…”

“…When an organization wants its message to reach its audience, it usually decides for the communication via stories [42]. The same should go for chemistry as the public desires to hear the story created and presented by good storytellers [13,46]. This desire is affected by the fact that people live life narratively, not just through plot-driven themes of love, hate, and work, but also through aspiration, coordination, process, and analysis.…”