More petroleum in my food

Just when I thought I had enough to obsess about with food dyes, I read in Jane Hersey's book, Healthier Food for Busy People, that artificial vanilla, usually called vanillin, is often made from petroleum and used paper pulp ingredients. So here's another one I'd like to weed out of the family diet. I wonder exactly what it was that made people decide that synthetic chemicals were better than real food. Well, money, I'm sure. But how can this be good for us our for our kids? Have they ever really studied what petroluem does to a developing brain? I've been scanning ingredients, cookies, chocolate chips, you name it, it's got vanillin. Sigh. Ignorance would be bliss at this state.