Front Matter

Smell of Autism 5

neurotoxin, a real fetal brain damaging agent. Its use is rapidly decreasing due
to public outcry but it is still in use. We will discuss this topic and the potential
solution in Chapter 9.

Smell of Autism

The first of these three major elements is the global rise in the use of synthetic
fragrances. These innocent, seemingly essential elements that we feel it neces­
sary to use every day, if not truly made from quality natural sources (and usually
they are not), can cause genetic mutations in fetal brain cells at extremely
miniscule concentrations. They selectively eliminate certain types of brain
cells, a point we will discuss in Chapter 6. Could it be that the highly pleasant‐
smelling environment in which our society lives is one of the culprits in this
unpleasant outcome? Could it be that the outcome for mothers and their babies
would be more pleasant if mothers‐to‐be breathed air that was free from such
pleasant smells? Should prenatal precaution involve not only abstinence from
alcohol and other drugs that can be mutagenic to the fetus but also the sub­
stances of fragrant smell? Is more actually less in the aromatic arena of life?
We  have shown in our research that many synthetic chemicals found in fra­
grances can induce a huge number of genetic mutations in human fetal brain
neurons (Figure 1.1). To find a major root cause of autism, we may need to look

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

No mutagen added

4-NoPD

Gap

Adagio very oudsy

Rosewood

Bath and body works

Guess

Dior

Bvlgari

Victoria’s secret

Bvlgari rose essentielle

Burberry britTommy girl

Halle pure orchid

Curve

Bodycology brown...

DavidoffBCB girls

Private label by color...

Jodore

Champ elyseesSpark for womenSex and the city

LDE toilette

Victoria’s secret

Skin must

Juicy cauture

Body by victoria

GivenchyVera wanaUnknown

Lust

Sex and the city

Number of mutated colonies

Number of mutated colonies

Figure 1.1 Mutagenic/carcinogenic effects of various perfumes as assessed by the Ames
test. Only perfumes with high mutagenic/carcinogenic activities are shown. Briefly, 1 μl of
each perfume was added into 150 ml of liquid agar containing Salmonella typhimurium, and
1 μl of histidine, mixed well and plated on a Petri dish for 48 h. The number of bacterial
colonies was counted visually. Each experimental variable was performed in triplicate, and
plotted as shown. Source: Adapted from Ref. [9].