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Michael J Fox was poisoned by tetraethyl lead automobile pollution in Canada during the ’60s and ’70s when the quantity of leaded gas being consumed was historically at its peak (approx. ’67-’77).
As well, there’s enough that can be learned in his books or various quotes from Fox that he had a heavy alcohol habit. He also increased his alcohol use (“doubled up“) after his diagnosis in ’91 for a year or so. Fe (iron) is known to be higher in booze. “Research indicates there is substantially increased concentrations of iron in the brains of Parkinson’s patients (Olanow, C.W., Neurology 49 (Suppl. 1), S26-S33, 1997).”
There was a 46% decline in the annual consumption of lead in gasoline from 1971-1980. Gasoline was still being treated with lead in the US by the time of the filming for Back to the Future, although the concentration was much less. It’s not coincidental the following graph is fairly parallel with when leaded gas started to be phased out. It should highlight just how much an influence gasoline pollution had on children’s (and young Michael’s) lead levels: 
Supplementing with iron “is ineffective in reversing established lead toxicity” [3]. While iron in alcohol could be unwisely used to limit the amount of lead absorbed, it can’t be used as a chelator. Much of the iron intake (from alcohol) was after his years of Canadian lead exposure, not during. The extra iron from this source would only compound the toxic load in the substantia nigra, not help in removing lead.
This is what Dr L Wilson concluded on Parkinson’s disease while utilizing hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) with a “development program” for thousands of people, including some with Parkinson’s- “…hair analysis research indicates that the causes are chronic manganese or lead toxicity. Other nutrient deficiencies and constipation also play a role. [1]” These imbalances are associated with Parkinson’s by noting the rise (dumping) on an HTMA chart of lead and/or manganese (particularly on a retest, retesting every 3-5 months) of a client with Parkinson’s symptoms.
“Most people have excessive lead. In our experience with over 100,000 mineral tests, most people have too much lead in their bodies. Most people are born with some of it and may be exposed through their food, water and air” [4].
Most of the Lead Went to Michael’s Bones- a Look at the Distribution
“…about 94-95% of the total body burden of lead is in the bones” [3]. Due to metabolic changes, stress, and/or from a large increase of vitamin D, the lead can remobilize (leave the bone) where it can go elsewhere in the body. Mobilization can also happen with menopause for women, as found by an NHANES II dataset study including around 3000 women measured between 1976 to 1980, showing “a highly significant increase in both whole blood and calculated plasma lead concentration after menopause” [5]. Along with Michael J Fox, these women undoubtedly lived through the peak of leaded gas exhaust pollution in our history.
The high popularity of vitamin (hormone) D supplementation has some benefits, but one study several years ago found higher doses of vitamin D could cause a reduction in bone density! There’s a possibility that Mr Fox is supplementing 5,000 iu or more of vitamin D/ day, but I suggest that may be harmful and he taper back to 1,000-2,000 iu, or to skip the D and focus on 3-4 cans sardines/ week. It’s apparent that his bones are brittle from the past bone breaks, which could be due to a combination of the lead remobilizing and an insufficient diet lacking calcium and calcium cofactors such as vitamin K2, magnesium and zinc.
As well, vitamin D deficiency has been linked to high blood levels of lead, rather than being absorbed into bone or other tissue [3]. With the longer Canadian winters and living at a higher latitude for 18 years, Mr Fox likely had a lower vitamin D status. “It was also found that such (D) deficiency diminished lead excretion” [3]. As well, even though lead settled largely in bone, vitamin D doses “accelerated removal of lead from the body”.
What started to accelerate the release of lead from Fox’s bones?
When he first moved to Los Angeles at 18, he started to mobilize more lead from his bones from the stronger sun exposure (compared to Canada), resulting in greater production of hormone D. “…summer is the peak season for lead poisoning because, it is now believed, lead that is stored in the bones most of the year gets drawn out with calcium, which is mobilized by increased vitamin D, a product of the summer sun. [2]”
Later, in 1988 (April through May), he traveled to Thailand to film Casualties of War. Thailand is also closer to the equator than Canada, a much more appropriate environment for synthesizing hormone D. Then, in 1990, he was in Florida filming for Doc Hollywood (where his pinky began twitching). Once again, close-proximity sunshine near Gainsville.
There were also some possible TBI moments Michael suffered leading through to 1990, including at least one hockey concussion in his youth, and going head first into a foyer table in a suite the night before he found his pinky twitching. Although, he also had a “ferocious hangover” (iron from alcohol). This is detailed in his book Lucky Man, where Michael commented that any pain he felt in his head that morning was from boozing (as opposed to bruising). I don’t think brain injuries are the primary cause here, although they definitely can contribute to the disease’s onset. More will be added here if I find any more info on the relation of TBI to Parkinson’s and any interaction a brain injury has on the toxic metals free floating in the body.
We have to go back where it all started.
During Fox’s (active) pre-teens beginning around the age of 7 (1968), were historically years that peaked for highest leaded gas consumption (through 1977 approx). He was born in Edmonton, and eventually relocated to Burnaby, Canada for eight years. Very interesting to know he lived in an apartment complex (in Burnaby) with an outdoor pool he’d frequent in, while across the street was a strip mall. A strip mall would surely mean busier roads next to it, which would raise the environmental lead levels. The mall had “an enormous parking lot perfect for endless hours of street hockey“, as he noted in his 2003 autobio [7]. Surely this would have been a red zone for airborne led particles where vehicles made their way in and out on the same parking lot. During all this, he was very young. “Age is also an important determinant of the rate of absorption from the gut. Young animals and human infants all show increased absorption and retention of lead. [3]”
Michael J Fox is undernourished and was for years. His diet at some point consisted of diet Pepsi, cigarettes, and alcohol. All of these would compromise his nutritional status and increase the need for nutritional support. Absorption of toxic metals in the body is prevented largely by the antagonistic nature of nutrient minerals from food and supplements. Signs pointing to lack of nourishment include the past tumor on his spine, the bone breaks, and symptoms of Parkinson’s. Toxic metals compete with vital minerals (from food) for utilization by the body, such as with lead and calcium!
Extra mineral support may be needed for the Parkinson’s patient, temporarily. This is where an HTMA test helps immensely. It looks at the individual’s oxidation rate to determine what supplements to take (to either help lower or raise the oxidation), and the type of diet that should be eaten, such as the recommendation of adding a couple tbl of fat with each meal for the fast oxidizer.
My Suggestion for the Michael J Fox Foundation
Here’s how the MJF Foundation can make the development/ mineral balancing program applicable to their research department. Enroll a larger amount of Parkinson’s patients (500-2000) and have them do a mineral balancing program, while submitting a hair tissue mineral analysis every 3 or so months, continuing the program for 1-5 years at a minimum. This involves daily detox procedures, in particular near infrared sauna therapy sessions and coffee enemas (done at home), a stricter diet (heavy on cooked vegetables three meals/ day) and special foods such as canned sardines, almond butter, tahini, and some blue corn chips, and various nutritional supplements including kelp, a digestive aid, TMG, some zinc, and a calcium/ magnesium complex. They should be connected with a mineral balancing practitioner during the entire program. Dr L Wilson has a list of approved practitioners.
If the Foundation is reading this and would like to get a grasp for Dr L Wilson’s approach, he has a frequent selling book on Amazon titled: Development Science and Development Programs
The good thing is Dr Lawrence Wilson is still alive (in his 70s) and still reviews and interprets hair tests that are done at Analytical Research Labs (in Arizona). It may seem a bit biased to work with ARL Labs that Wilson only works with, but it’s only one of a couple labs in the US that does NOT was the hair prior to testing (washing the hair basically renders the interpretation useless). It took him about 4 years to learn to understand how to interpret a hair tissue mineral analysis (while Dr Paul Eck was still alive, who is one of the pioneers of HTMA analysis).
Michael J Fox Needs to Detox and Renourish his Body
We don’t know what detox methods (if any) Michael J Fox has done or is currently doing to address his Parkinson’s. If he happens to read this article, he should be aware that some of the safest and long term detox methods include coffee enemas and near infrared sauna sessions. These are included in an HTMA/ mineral balancing program. “The program we offer removes lead by about 20 methods simultaneously, without a need for chelation” [4]. “I am surprised how easily and how consistently iron removal occurs with the development program” [6].
I’d be very interested to see Mr Fox’s HTMA results and what patterns they see if he continues submitting HTMAs.
I will be sending this article to the MJF Foundation, and my hope for Michael J Fox is that he’d be able to start incorporating the basic elements of a development program today (cooking vegetables, detox protocols, going to bed by 8 or 9pm etc). While mineral balancing might not entirely correct the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, it makes perfect sense that if the body is able to regenerate dopaminergic neurons, it’d be able to do so when properly nourished and free of unneeded metals.
I want to encourage the reader with this last point, as found by Dr L Wilson “…at least in early cases, the manganese toxicity does not kill the cells outright, but merely disables them. Thus, if the manganese can be removed, healing can occur. [1]”
References
[1] Wilson (2019, August). Parkinson’s Disease. Retrieved from PARKINSON’S DISEASE AND (drlwilson.com)
[2] Warren, (2000). Brush With Death: A Social History of Lead Poisoning. Johns Hopkins University Press.
[3] Lansdown, R., Yule, W. (1986). Lead Toxicity: History and Environmental Impact. Johns Hopkins University Press.
[4] Wilson, (2019, October). Lead Toxicity. Retrieved from https://www.drlwilson.com/articles/LEAD.htm
[5] Lead and osteoporosis: mobilization of lead from bone in postmenopausal women – PubMed (nih.gov)
[6] Wilson, (2022, October). Iron and Iron Overload. Retrieved from IRON POISONING (drlwilson.com)
[7] Fox, (2002). Lucky Man: A Memoir. Hyperion.
Photo credit: Lead (epa.gov)
Case history photos credit: The New Earth Newsletter (drlwilson.com)
Blog image by Alan Light under CC BY 2.0 license, titled Michael J. Fox with Rick Best. Photo was modified (cropped), featured image under CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED license.