'Natural' Soap and the Clean Truth

I say it right on my home page and I'm writing it again here due to the accumulated detritus of  exposure to stale redundancy and weaselly hype marketing that has overwhelmed my defenses against cliche and ability for creative originality. Natural and Soap are two words that go together like chocolate ice cream and hot sauce. Uck! It simply shouldn't happen! Soap is a man made invention, unless it happens to be found in grave wax. Soap is a delightful chemical, no matter how many natural ingredients are used in its creation. Chemical, yes-man made(or woman made)-and there is no ethical side stepping around this fact.  Of course, there are naturally synthesized chemicals-we do it all the time involuntarily as a process of living through out our body systems as does every other living creature on this planet. It might even be possible for a form of soap to be synthesized in the body. 
My daughter's pediatrician and I had an interesting conversation in which she said that it was possible for saponification to occur in damaged livers, and I have been on the hunt for this information ever since. One day, I will run across the supporting evidence and write more about this.
We are surrounded by chemicals, made of chemicals, exuding chemicals and..That is just how it is supposed to be! Some chemicals we make are harmful and others are benign. It's human nature-it's just what we do, and I don't believe it can be helped. I do believe that we can become more educated and aware and strive to put forth more benign chemicals than harmful substances. Not every naturally occurring chemical is benign either. Just think about bee stings, the irritating oils produced by poison ivy and spider bites. I like to believe that soap is harmless and that belief is valid within reasonable boundaries. Chronic ophthalmic exposure to suds would doubtless be detrimental. Interestingly, and disturbingly, soap has pesticidal properties. Have you ever used a soapy water solution for controlling aphids? This EPA publication might provoke a panty twist when pondering some of the constituents of certain types of soap made from all natural oils:
http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/4083fact.pdf

This publication plainly lists potassium salts which-oh there go my panties-are the components of liquid soap! And some of these salts come from my favorite natural oils! In the end, the EPA puts a low risk human and environmental toxicity spin on these ingredients which does rather lessen the tension in my bunched drawers.