A recent very detailed survey from the Cabinet Office Japan looking at chemical substances in the immediate environment found that, as is the case in English, “chemical substances” is a scary word, despite of course everything being made out of chemical substances, and there’s dangerous natural chemical substances and perfectly safe man-made ones as well as vice versa.
Demographics
Between the 17th and 27th of June 2010 3,000 members of the general public aged twenty or older selected at random from resident registries were approached for face-to-face interviews. 1,942 peope, or 64.7%, completed the interviews; the non-interviewed included 383 refusals, 367 not in at the time, 118 had moved, 74 people were away from the home for a long period of time, 48 addresses were unclear, and 68 people were not available for other reasons. 51.4% of the sample were female, 8.8% in their twenties, 14.3% in their thirties, 17.3% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, 24.1% in their sixties, and 16.5% aged seventy or older. Furthermore, 14.4% only completed elementary or middle school, 44.0% high school, 41.1% had attended or were currently attending university, and 0.5% didn’t answer.
Looking at Q5, I’d have loved to have seen people asked about how much they worried about dihydrogen monoxide, an ingredient in almost all functional energy drinks that many Japanese use to keep them going while working long hours yet announcing its presence in ingredient lists is not regulated by the Japanese government! Furthermore, many Japanese mix it with the legal high hydroxyethane after hours, leading to further cravings for dihydrogen monoxide the next day. BAN THIS ACCURSED CHEMICAL NOW!
Research results
Q1: Do you often heard about chemical substances in your daily life? (Sample size=1,942)
Q2: What impression do you have of the term “chemical substances”? (Sample size=1,942, multiple answer)
| Dangerous items |
69.7% |
| Items needed for the modern lifestyle |
25.5% |
| Challenging items |
23.4% |
| Useful items |
16.6% |
| Other |
1.2% |
| Nothing in particular |
3.0% |
| Don’t know |
3.9% |
Next, the respondents were shown this explanation of what chemical substances were.
“These days, plastics, soaps, make up, insecticide, etc are all made from chemical substances, along with medical items, paints, dyes, glues, insect repellents, etc. Whether or not we are aware of it, we use many chemical substances in our daily life and work. Chemical substances enrich our lifestyles, and are essential to support our daily lives. Some chemical substances when emitted into the environment build up in people’s bodies and may have an effect on human, animal and plant health. The government promotes means for gathering and offering information, and systems for controlling harmful chemical substances.”
Q3: Which of the following daily life items that contain chemical substances are you concerned about? (Sample size=1,942, multiple answer)
| Fertilisers, insecticides, insect repellents |
61.9% |
| Drinking water, foodstuffs |
59.3% |
| Factory, etc, gas, water emissions |
54.2% |
| Building materials, fixtures |
52.7% |
| Soaps, detergents, shampoos |
47.0% |
| Vehicle exhaust gas |
45.0% |
| Medicines |
42.4% |
| Make up, hair care products |
39.0% |
| Toys |
28.8% |
| Air freshners |
27.3% |
| Tableware |
26.4% |
| Furniture |
18.2% |
| Clothes, curtains |
18.2% |
| None in particular |
3.8% |
| Other |
0.4% |
| Don’t know |
0.5% |
Q4: Which of the following actions related to chemical substances do you do? (Sample size=1,942, multiple answer)
| Be sure to throw out items such as batteries, fluorescent bulbs, etc containing harmful chemical substances separately |
59.0% |
| Choose foodstuffs grown with less or no fertilisers |
47.6% |
| Don’t go near places where I might breathe in chemical substances, or other actions that might cause harmful chemical substances to enter my body |
39.5% |
| Try to use as few products containing harmful chemical substances as possible |
35.7% |
| Check before buying whether products contain chemical substances that are thought to be harmful |
26.0% |
| Get various information from the internet regarding chemical substances that are thought to be harmful |
4.5% |
| Nothing in particular |
17.0% |
| Other |
0.7% |
| Don’t know |
0.6% |
Q5: Which of the following is closest to how you feel about the safety of chemical substances in your immediate environment with regards human, animal and plant health? (Sample size=1,942)
| Worry about almost no chemical substances (to SQ1 and SQ2) |
10.8% |
| Worry about few chemical substances (to SQ1, SQ2, SQ3, and SQ4) |
18.1% |
| Worry about many chemical substances (to SQ1, SQ2, SQ3, and SQ4) |
53.1% |
| Worry about almost all chemical substances (to SQ3 and SQ4) |
13.8% |
| Don’t know |
4.2% |
Q5SQ1: Why do you not worry about the safety of chemical substances in your immediate environment? (Sample size=1,593, multiple answer)
| I or my immediate environment does not have chemical substances that affect human, animal or plant health |
34.3% |
| Government has taken the necessary steps |
27.4% |
| Industry is self-regulated |
22.2% |
| I’ve listened to explanations by government, industry and well understand about chemical substances |
10.1% |
| Don’t think they are particularly harmful |
6.5% |
| Other |
1.5% |
| Don’t know |
19.1% |
Q5SQ2: Which of the following products do you not worry about the safety of chemical substances that may be present in them? (Sample size=1,593, multiple answer)
| Drinking water, foodstuffs |
36.3% |
| Medicines |
33.0% |
| Everyday items |
29.3% |
| Building materials, fixtures |
10.2% |
| Fertilisers, insecticides, insect repellents |
9.4% |
| Factory, etc, gas, water emissions |
6.2% |
| Vehicle exhaust gas |
5.8% |
| Other |
1.0% |
| Don’t know |
31.4% |
Q5SQ3: Why do you worry about the safety of chemical substances in your immediate environment? (Sample size=1,652, multiple answer)
| There are so many chemical substances that some of them may be harmful |
55.0% |
| There are harmful chemical substances |
52.6% |
| I don’t know if industry is properly self-regulating |
41.7% |
| As I’ve no chance to hear explanations about them, I just don’t really know about chemical substances |
39.0% |
| I don’t know if government has taken the necessary steps |
26.8% |
| I think industry is not properly dealing with chemical substances |
17.8% |
| I think the government is not properly dealing with chemical substances |
15.5% |
| I or my immediate environment has encountered chemical substances that affect human, animal or plant health |
13.6% |
| Other |
0.4% |
| Don’t know |
3.6% |
Q5SQ4: Which of the following products do you worry about the safety of chemical substances that may be present in them? (Sample size=1,652, multiple answer)
| Fertilisers, insecticides, insect repellents |
62.8% |
| Drinking water, foodstuffs |
59.5% |
| Factory, etc, gas, water emissions |
51.8% |
| Building materials, fixtures |
44.7% |
| Medicines |
39.5% |
| Vehicle exhaust gas |
38.0% |
| Everyday items |
30.0% |
| Other |
0.2% |
| Don’t know |
2.4% |
Next, the respondents were shown this text, relating to this news:
Regarding an international medium to long-term goal for chemical substance management, the following statement has been made: “By 2020 we aim to minimize the production and use of chemical substances that have a detrimental efffect on human health and the environment.”
Q6: In order to achieve that goal, which of the following is it important that society overall should promote? (Sample size=1,942, multiple answer)
| Publicise lots of information regarding chemical substances |
60.2% |
| Replace harmful chemical substances with safer ones |
56.4% |
| Implement measures regarding the lifecycle of chemical substances and products from production through usage to disposal |
53.3% |
| Protect high-risk groups like children or pregnant women from the effect of chemical substances |
50.9% |
| Even if there’s no scientific evidence of whether a chemical substance is harmful or not, even if there’s a slight concern take measures to protect human health and plant and animal life |
50.1% |
| Nothing in particular |
3.3% |
| Other |
0.5% |
| Don’t know |
2.8% |
Q7: In order to achieve that goal, who should be the main actor for proactively tackling the issue? (Sample size=1,942)
| Country (to SQ) |
69.0% |
| Industry consumers of chemical substances |
16.2% |
| Local public bodies (to SQ) |
7.4% |
| Citizens (NGOs, NPOs, volunteer groups, etc) |
4.7% |
| No-one in particular |
1.2% |
| Other |
0.1% |
| Don’t know |
1.5% |
Q7SQ: In order to achieve that goal, what do you think national, local public bodies should promote? (Sample size=1,484, multiple answer)
| Enact appropriate regulations for harmful chemical substances |
68.7% |
| Set standards and evaluations for chemical substance safety |
64.6% |
| Measure environmental pollution by chemical substances |
58.7% |
| Provide information on the harmfulness of chemical substances and the amount disposed of into in the environment |
54.0% |
| Respond to concerns and queries |
27.4% |
| Other |
0.1% |
| Don’t know |
1.8% |
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