Dr. Renee Joy Dufault

Dr. Renee Dufault served in the U.S. Navy as an Industrial Hygiene Officer and the Public Health Service (PHS) as an Environmental Health Officer. During her 16 year PHS career, she worked at the National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes and the Food and Drug Administration where she provided expertise in the areas of toxicology, environmental health and industrial hygiene. She retired early from the uniformed service after 20 years in 2008, to publish her findings of mercury in high fructose corn syrup and continue her research with collaborators on the role toxic food ingredients play in the development of disease conditions. Her research team’s most recent article to date was published in the World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics (Dufault et al., 2023) and explores the gene-environment interactions responsible for the autism epidemic in the United States. This new article also shows the mechanisms for the epigenetic inheritance of autism and ADHD. With numerous publications under her belt, Dr. Dufault is now considered a leading researcher in the field of nutritional epigenetics. Dr. Dufault believes the study of gene-environment interactions cannot be done without a thorough understanding of the environment in which we live (food, air, water, land). There are many ways toxic substances and other contaminants can enter “fresh” and frozen produce, the manufactured food and treated water supplies, air we breathe, and lands upon which we live. The health and capacity of future generations will continue to be at risk as long as profit and personal gain is valued over infant and child health.