I’ve had a similar conversation with someone a few years ago.

The subject was ‘alternative medicine’ — we were discussing whether synthetic antiseptics were better than organic ones like tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is a pretty good antiseptic and it’s totally a reasonable thing to use for minor cuts & grazes.

The other person was advocating against the use of synthetics, but the point I made at the time was similar to what you wrote.

If everyone switched to using tea tree oil because it was wildly superior to CHEMICAL DISINFECTANTS OMG then you can say goodbye to what’s left of the rainforests as companies rush to fill the spike in demand for tea tree oil.