The original intent of this post was more on semantics, than actual treatment with chemicals. The point being that everything is a chemical. Yes there are bad chemicals, like a lot of the synthetic commercially available treatments, and there are potentially less harmful chemicals like the organic acids, essential oils, sugar, etc.
Yes everyone can have their own opinions of how bad or good a given "chemical" is, and can draw their own line in the sand as far as their practices. My point is, if you are applying anything to your hive, please don't say you are "chemical-free" :evil: