This is a page of people and organizations who are not necessarily pro-chemicals, but are anti-chemical demonizing.
Why would I be pro-chemical? I’m not. But I am against bad information and scare tactics. People look at me strangely when say that I work with chemicals. They don’t want to shake my hand after they know I handle chemicals. At least I know that I have recently washed my hands (who knows when they last washed theirs).
I will not defend the whole chemical industry. There are definitely chemical pollutants and environmental problems and too many pharmaceuticals and other problems associated with chemicals in the world right now. But some battles, especially related to the food industry right now, are inflated (and conflated) by people who have no chemical knowledge. Their misinformation can be just as dangerous as the “chemicals” they so vehemently protest against.
Dr. Joe Schwarcz at the Office of Science and Society
Dr. Joe, through the OSS at McGill University, has made it his mission to calm the public’s fears about chemicals. He has written a number of excellent books, as well as the articles published on the OSS blog and website. If you live in Canada, you can listen to his weekly call-in radio show.
Compound Interest
Makes lovely infographics about various chemistry-related topics, including lab-standards and public information, including 12 ways to spot bad science poster (super helpful for double-checking news headlines).
ACS Reactions (formerly Bytesize Science)
From the American Chemical Society, a series of YouTube videos on some chemistry-related topics of the day.
Sense About Science
New from a non-profit-charity in London, this site (with a downloadable book!) aims to give people a better idea of what to worry about (or not). This chemistry-related site is only part of the larger pro-science site.
Periodic Table of Videos
From the University of Nottingham, it started as a project to make a (pretty cool!) video on each element on the periodic table, and has now expanded to include particular molecules, and concepts (and even some physics). This site isn’t explicitly about debunking bad science, but it is extremely informative in little video snippets.
And here are some nice discussions regarding chemophobia (or whether it needs a different name) and general good fightin’ ideas:
notphlogiston 