My 39-year-old son Kyle has autism and severe chemical sensitivities. He is especially hypersensitive to fluoride — yes, even fluoride added to our tap water at 0.7 parts per million.
I would like to gather stories of others who have autism and are hypersensitive to fluoridated water to share with the Fluoride Action Network (FAN).
In 2017, after reading “Kyle’s Fluoride Story,” which I wrote the year before, FAN asked me to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the EPA focused on fluoride’s neuro-developmental toxicity.
I am a huge fan of Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and know CHD would be supportive of this challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Chemical sensitivities in the autism population are common, but often parents like me don’t fully understand the connection between chemicals, pain and behavior — and what must be done to protect our children.
I didn’t even begin to understand until my son was a teenager and it took me years to comprehend the magnitude of it and just how terribly fluoride and fluoridated water affects him. In addition to tap water and dental products, fluoride is in countless unlabeled products and produce.
When Kyle was 14 years old, 25 years ago, removing fluoridated water dramatically reduced his wild behaviors — screaming, jumping, sweating, heart pounding — in three days. I wouldn’t have even thought to try this were it not for an autism mom who suggested it to me.
Years later, another autism mom informed me that even fluoridated showers can affect hypersensitive people. This turned out to be the case for Kyle, finally solving the mystery of his morning headaches. I am driven to inform other parents as these two moms’ suggestions changed my son’s world … and mine.
FAN was a tremendous source of information for me. Later, I began actively advocating to stop water fluoridation so that others on the spectrum may not suffer like my son.
There is no drug to take away his profound pain and resulting wild behaviors, so avoidance is critical. At FAN’s request, in 2019 I told my son’s story in a video:
Recently, a major study was published linking fluoride consumption by pregnant mothers with symptoms related to autism.
The study, “Maternal Urinary Fluoride and Child Neurobehavior at Age 36 Months,” was published in JAMA Network Open in May. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health and EPA and led by scientists at the University of Southern California (USC).
It found that children of mothers with higher fluoride exposure during pregnancy, typical of ingesting fluoridated water, had nearly double the odds of neurobehavioral problems. These included emotional reactivity, anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms such as headaches and stomach aches and symptoms related to autism.
Lead author Ashley Malin, Ph.D., said in USC’s press release:
“Our findings are noteworthy, given that the women in this study were exposed to pretty low levels of fluoride — levels that are typical of those living in fluoridated regions within North America.”
Most at CHD would know that children and adults on the autism spectrum have reactions to chemicals more frequently and more intensely than the general population. This recent fluoride study provides additional scientific evidence to my personal experience and the experience of the other two autism moms who warned me about fluoride.
To be clear, neither I nor this study claims that fluoride or fluoridated water causes autism. Nor do I believe it affects everyone on the spectrum. But based on my personal experience and this scientific evidence, I have no doubt that fluoride is very harmful to some with autism and has the potential to exacerbate the symptoms that individuals with autism are experiencing.
I hope to collect those stories to help FAN spread awareness of this potential source of suffering for those with autism. Some day the practice of adding toxic fluoridation chemicals to public water will end and the stories will help us achieve that goal. Please email me with yours.
Original article online at: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/community/kyle-fluoride-autism-story-chemical-sensitivity