Particularly in connection with plant protection products, the opinion is widespread that natural is good and chemicals are bad. But such a black and white outlook is factually wrong and ill-considered.

Synthetic production of natural identical substances

Many synthetic plant protection products are identical to nature. The possibility of producing active substances synthetically also has a positive effect on animal life and biodiversity. This is because it prevents useful substances from being taken directly from an animal. This applies, for example, to the important pheromones in organic farming. These are substances used to attract harmful insects. In a "natural" way, the active substance would have to be extracted from millions of butterflies.

Ultimately, everything is chemistry

Chemistry is usually equated with the synthetic production of substances in the laboratory. But there are also people and much of what they do every day is chemistry, as this shortvideoclearly shows. Synthesis refers to the process of making a compound from elements or a new substance from compounds. Basically, this has nothing to do with poison at all. Natural substances can also be produced synthetically. The synthetic production of plant protection products offers many advantages and can also relieve the environment. Find out more here.

Nature as a Laboratory: The Case of the Poison Dart Frog

As reported by "Weltwoche," the example of poison dart frogs beautifully demonstrates how fluid the boundaries between nature, chemistry, and synthetic active ingredients really are. These tiny, brightly colored amphibians live in the tropical rainforests of South and Central America and are among the most toxic animals on Earth. What makes them fascinating is that plants also "synthesize"—essentially producing in their own internal laboratories—highly potent chemical substances. These include alkaloids, which are organic compounds like caffeine or nicotine that plants use to protect themselves from predators. To date, scientists have identified 300 different alkaloids as natural toxins. The frogs absorb these poisons through their diet (insects) and use them as a defensive cocktail on their skin.

Biochemistry and pharmaceutical research have long been interested in these potent natural compounds. What serves as a passive weapon in the wild inspires modern medicine: certain frog toxins have an extremely powerful pain-relieving effect or positively influence heart activity. For instance, the venom of an Ecuadorian poison dart frog has a pain-relieving effect 200 times stronger than morphine. In addition, the frogs use their skin toxins to protect themselves against fungi and bacteria. Today, medicine mimics these natural defenses in the laboratory to produce effective treatments, such as anti-fungal creams.

This proves once again: chemistry is not an artificial counterpart to nature — everything is chemistry.