Front Matter

Connecting the Dots 13

epidemiological scholarship have indicated that undisclosed chemicals labeled
as fragrance, including those that produce many different scents, and increase
product shelf life, control the time‐release mechanisms of various fragrances
and that improve stability, possess endocrine‐disrupting properties [64–80].
These disruptors have a troubling track record, with links to augmented cancer
risks [8,64], negative effects on fetal development [9,10], and metabolic dis­
eases. For instance, chemicals with the capacity to increase the expression of
human estrogen receptors include oxybenzone, octinoxate, benzyl salicylate,
benzyl benzoate, benzophenone‐1, benzophenone‐2, butylphenyl methylpro­
pional, and various synthetic musks (e.g., musk ketone, tonalide, and galaxo­
lide). Of these, benzophenone‐1, tonalide oxybenzone, and galaxolide also
have an effect on androgens. Moreover, octinoxate, benzophenone‐2, and
butylated hydroxytoluene have links to hormonal disruption of the thyroid
[8–10,64]. Even at very low concentration levels, fragrances with these chemi­
cals as ingredients can be carcinogenic and mutagenic [10,64]. One ingredient
used under the elusive label fragrance is acetyl ethyl tetramethyl tetraline
(AETT) [76]. It was used for over two decades in soaps and cosmetics, and it
has been found to cause behavioral changes and to promote white matter
degeneration in the brain, including substantial demyelination and troubling
axonal degeneration within the central peripheral nervous systems. In 1978, its
use was voluntarily discontinued.

1990s

Synthetic

food/drink

avors

introduced

1980s

Endrocrime

Disturbing

Chemicas

became part

of our modern

lives

1970s

Glyphosate

introduce

as herbicide

1960s

Plastics

introduced

1975s

Synthetic

Fragrance

introduced at

Mass-scale

1:100000 1:100000

1920 1970 1975 1995 2001 2004 2007 2009 2012

1:2500

1:500

1:250

1:166

1:150

1:110

Figure 1.7 The alarming rise in synthetic chemical use and autism. Source: Adapted from
https://naturaltothecore.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/
autism‐head‐lag‐and‐the‐core‐of‐wellbeing/.