:Chemical free

{{Short description|Marketing term}}

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Chemical free is a term used in marketing to imply that a product is safe, healthy or environmentally friendly because it only contains natural ingredients.{{cite news | url = https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2012-jan-22-la-oe-blum-chemicals-20120122-story.html | author = Deborah Blum | author-link = Deborah Blum | date = January 22, 2012 | title = Chemical-free nonsense: Equating 'chemical' with 'evil' is an invitation to misplaced fear and a way of thinking that makes us less safe | newspaper = Los Angeles Times}} The term is a misnomer, as all substances and objects are composed entirely of chemicals and energy. The term chemical is roughly a synonym for matter, and all substances, such as water and air, are chemicals.

The use of the term chemical free in advertising to indicate that a product is free of synthetic chemicals, and the tolerance of its use in this fashion by the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority, has been the subject of criticism.{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/aug/06/dodgyscienceintvadverts | title = Do TV adverts have to tell the truth? | newspaper = The Guardian| date = August 6, 2008 | author = Frank Swain}}

A study on American undergraduates' understanding of the term chemical, conducted by chemist Gayle Nicoll in 1997, noted that "People may hold both a scientific and layman's definition of a chemical without linking the two together in any way. They may or may not consciously distinguish that the term 'chemical' has different connotations depending on the situation."{{cite journal | journal = Journal of Chemical Education | date = April 1, 1997 | title = 'Chemical-Free' Foods: An Investigation of Student's Definitions of a Chemical | author = Gayle Nicoll | doi=10.1021/ed074p455 | volume=74 | issue = 4 | pages=455| bibcode=1997JChEd..74..455N }}