After some thought, I realized that there are many terms appearing in public communications (news, media, advertising, casual conversation, etc.) that are being used in a different way from how scientists would use them. "Organic", "theory", "pure" and "chemical-free" are all examples. In fact, the word "chemical" itself is often misued in the same way. I'm guessing that the legal, health, engineering, and many other professions deal with exactly the same issue. We should continue to educate our populace as much as we can about what these terms mean scientifically, but we also shouldn't get too bent out of shape when we see them being used is a manner that is technically incorrect. When a non-scientist says to me, "organic", I usually know exactly what he or she means, which is the whole point of the communication, right?
