Are 40% of the people in Europe really this ignorant? They want to live in a world where "chemical substances don't exist".

We live in a world made up of chemicals.
They themselves are just a bundle of chemicals so bring on the out of body experience. Lol

No, Idiocracy does not come to mind, but the phrase “fucking lawyers” sure does.

Only a lawyer would say “chlorophyll” is a chemical and that chemicals are natural and without them we would be in the stone age.

But I would like to live in a world without a lot of manufactured chemicals, such as plastics and Round-up. My realization that it won’t happen does not negate my desire, just alters my outlook towards many things.

Questions like this are like monkey paw wishes. The answerer answers the assumed “spirit” of the question, not the literal one.
They hear chemical substances, they assume the question means drugs, polluted water, smog in the air, acidic rain, contaminated soils, artificial flavourings and preservatives in processed food, food animals pumped full of hormones and antibiotics to compensate for terrible hygiene in factory farming, etc. pp. And that is what they are answering.

Considering how ignorant so many people here in the United States are, that number is totally believable.

What comes to mind when reading that article, is that the writer is, knowingly or not, exploiting a mis-communicated poll question.

Clearly the people polled were thinking of harmful industrial chemicals, and assuming the poll was asking from a reasonable context. The article then tries to turn this around to imply that people are idiots, but the author is making the same type of mistake, now falsely assuming everyone who answers in a certain way actually means his cynical interpretation that they don’t know what chemicals are, etc.

You give them too much credit.@Zaku.

H2O is a chemical.

I think the problem is that people read questions and form opinions based on what they Think it is saying. For this question, asking if they want to live in a world where chemical substances don’t exist, as @Zaku stated they are probably thinking of industrial chemicals. That could range from plastics to gasoline to Roundup to nerve gas. They are probably not thinking that water is a chemical, that chlorophyll is a chemical compound, that everything has some chemical component to it, even natural things.
A world without all the chemicals we create and use daily might not be a bad place. It would certainly force us to learn to do things differently. But it would also end up with lots and lots of deaths around the world.

I do think questions like these catch people off guard and that may explain the answers, but these kinds of questions may serve a purpose in reminding people to think about what questions are actually asking since sometimes they may be misleading on purpose (and not just for a joke). I’m reminded of those videos where a snickering man with a microphone goes around a college campus asking students whether they want to “end women’s suffrage” to which they enthusiastically pledge their support. Are they truly ignorant of what “suffrage” means (the usual interpretation of what’s happening) or given the nature of the question are they so inclined to hear it as “suffering” that they are not truly thinking about the word being uttered? That in itself is an interesting question.

The question seems to have been posed for the purpose of being able to write the article. Americans are exposed to many harmful chemicals of which the Europeans are not. The governments over there, unlike the one in the USA, has no stake in chemical industry. Our politicians have gotten rich off of DOW and Monsanto. Family friendly Johnson and Johnson is finally exposed for not being the producers of safe products. I imagine this is the thought from which people answered the poll….........not considering that one cannot escape chemicals but can try to avoid harmful compounds. Try. “The Human Experiment” is a good documentary on this subject. https://www.amazon.com/Human-Experiment-Sean-Penn/dp/B00W96KTI6?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00W96KTI6

Europe said no to GMOs as well. McDonalds grows their own potatoes in the USA….GMO potatoes. Europe said no to McDonalds growing those same potatoes in Europe. Buy fries in a European store you’ll get non-GMO potatoes.

@Sagacious Your GMO potatoes for McDonald’s is LIAR LIAR pants on fire !

How about this poll? Poll: 30% of GOP voters support bombing Agrabah, the city from Aladdin

The article goes on to say:

It may be tempting to make fun of scientific illiteracy in Europe. But we Americans are in no position to judge. Surveys in the US routinely find similar ignorance in this country. For example, some 80% of Americans say they want mandatory labeling of food containing DNA, probably because they do not realize that nearly all food contains DNA, as indeed does every human body. A 2012 survey found that 1 in 4 Americans do not know that the Earth revolves around the sun, rather than vice versa.

The poll was designed to elicit that answer. It wasn’t a valid attempt to look at meaningful attitudes.

I think we can better point and laugh at those who believe that 40% of Europeans want chemicals banned. It’s a stupid straw man.

Literally everything is chemical substances. And what is beneficial in certain contexts can be extremely harmful in other contexts. Dihydrogen monoxide is a prime example. You cannot live without it, but it can also kill you with ease.

I basically agree with @Zaku. We don’t really know how these people are interpreting the question. Although, keep in mind Europe is much more “natural” oriented than America from what I have observed. I think sometimes to Europe’s detriment, and sometimes it is better. It’s like anything, too extreme and it’s not good.

100% of people who come into contact with Dihydrogen monoxide DIES, man!!!! Think about that!!!!

Jimmy Kimmel year end current events A lot of people are like this. Can’t admit there’s something they don’t know