> arguably most chemicals produced (esp. medications) have benefits that easily make the risks/downsides worth it
Without some heavy qualification, this seems unlikely to be true.
Maybe if you restrict it to things that have successfully gone through some sort of heavy trials, but even then there are plenty of things that get through with a tiny upside (like the recent alzheimers drug that made headlines). And most things don't make it through trials.
If you open it up to any concoction that humans have discovered or whipped up in a lab, hoo boy.
Edit: my running definition here would be any kind of compound that we've isolated and attempted to sell.
Without some heavy qualification, this seems unlikely to be true.
Maybe if you restrict it to things that have successfully gone through some sort of heavy trials, but even then there are plenty of things that get through with a tiny upside (like the recent alzheimers drug that made headlines). And most things don't make it through trials.
If you open it up to any concoction that humans have discovered or whipped up in a lab, hoo boy.
Edit: my running definition here would be any kind of compound that we've isolated and attempted to sell.