title: Defining "natural product" between public health and business, 17th to 21st centuries.
abstract: The historical definition of a natural product stands at the crossroads of business, health, and the symbolic order of things. Until the end of the 19th century, "natural product" was a synonym of perishable. The emergency of organic chemistry made perishability be replaced with "toxicity". Nowadays, genetics is provoking a radical change in the notion and practises of "natural product". However, these concerns are never entirely opposed to "naturality" as a synonym for sacred and symbolic order. Traceability is largely based upon kosher practices and the association between organic and good for health is hardly based upon sound scientific arguments.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institutions et dynamiques historiques de l'économie (IDHE) and Ecole Normale, Supérieure (ENS) de Cachan, 17 rue de la Sorbonne, FR-75005 Paris, France. Alessandro.stanziani@idhe.ens-cachan.fr
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stanziani
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000266:history; D004032:Diet / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000266:history*; D058870:Food, Organic / Q000266:history*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health / Q000266:history*; D012067:Religion / Q000266:history; D009626:Terminology as Topic