Parkinsons and pesticides

Research

Studies show Parkinson's and pesticides link

US scientists have uncovered more evidence that pesticides can cause Parkinson's disease. One study shows that farm workers who used the common weedkiller paraquat had two to three times the normal risk of Parkinson's, a degenerative brain disease that eventually paralyses patients. A second study shows that animals exposed to paraquat have a build-up of a protein called alpha-synuclein in their brains. This protein has been linked to Parkinson's in the past. A third piece of the puzzle shows that this build-up of protein kills the same brain cells affected in Parkinson's. 'All of these pieces really look like they are coming together now,’ according to Dr. William Langston, founder of the non-profit Parkinson's Institute. Langston and colleagues said they were energised by research presented at the Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research meeting in Monterey, California, earlier this month. Farm workers are at especially high risk but links to pesticides have been difficult to document because years usually pass between a person's exposure to pesticides and the development of the disease. Dr. Beate Ritz of the University of California at Los Angeles and Dr. Caroline Tanner of the Parkinson's Institute looked at 80,000 people in Iowa and North Carolina and found farm workers exposed to Paraquat had twice the expected risk of Parkinson's over their lifetimes. Exposure to another pesticide called Dieldrin also raised the risk, the study, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, found. A second study found similar effects in farm workers in central California.

Reuters article Source: Risks 303