The Pesticide-Parkinson’s Equation
Photo by MEG/Acollection/Getty Images
From the American Chemical Society: “Pesticide exposure could increase risk of early onset of Parkinson’s Disease.”
Low-level exposure to a banned but lingering pesticide appears to accelerate changes in the brain that can potentially lead to the onset of Parkinson’s disease symptoms years or even decades before they might naturally develop. This finding, by researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, was presented today at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. …
“Our current study clearly shows that pesticides such as dieldrin appear to accelerate or exacerbate the already underlying disease,” said Gary Miller, Ph.D., an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at Emory University. “Pesticides aren’t necessarily the causative agents, but they do promote Parkinson’s. So it appears the more you are exposed to pesticides, the greater your risk of developing the disease earlier in life.”
In their pilot study, Miller and his co-researchers—Emory graduate student Jaime Hatcher and Georgia Tech Professor Kurt Pennell, Ph.D.—found that levels of dieldrin, an organochlorine pesticide developed in the 1940s as an alternative to DDT, were three times higher in the brains of 14 people who had Parkinson’s disease than in the brains of 12 people who didn’t.
Based on this finding, the researchers estimated the lifetime exposure levels of these people and extrapolated these levels to mice. They then exposed laboratory mice to low, but “environmentally relevant” dosages of dieldrin—about 1 to 3 milligrams per kilogram. After one month, although none of the mice showed symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, the researchers did detect increased levels of oxidative stress in the brain and significantly reduced uptake of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that plays a key role in the development of Parkinson’s.
This latest work adds more evidence establishing a link between pesticides and Parkinson’s. Earlier this year, a Harvard School of Public Health study of more than 140,000 adults found that those exposed to long-term, low levels of pesticides had a 70 percent higher incidence of Parkinson’s disease. Another recent study, by the same Emory/Georgia Tech team, found that fetal rodents exposed to dieldrin had brain alterations that made them more susceptible to Parkinson’s-inducing toxins.
“All of the evidence that has been accumulating suggests that exposure to pesticides increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease,” Miller said. “We believe that a person who is destined to get Parkinson’s because of genetics or other factors at age 80 might develop symptoms when they’re 65 or 70 if they have been exposed to pesticides.”
(Emphases are mine.)
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Amy Stodghill said,
September 16, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Pesticides are nasty things - I just blogged today about how DDT might cause polio…. instead of looking for “cures” for diseases, I think we should all get together to eliminate the toxins that cause them.
The Worsted Witch » Mail Call: Nontoxic Shower Curtains said,
October 16, 2006 at 2:41 pm
[...] In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified at least four compounds classified as hazardous air pollutants by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Plastic shower curtains are also commonly treated with antimicrobial pesticides, which, as I’ve mentioned before, can lead to infertility, nerve and neurological damage, blood and lymphatic system cancers, cancers of the lip, stomach, lung, brain, and prostate, plus melanoma and other skin cancers. Pesticides have also been linked to Parkinson’s disease. [...]
The Worsted Witch » Pesticides in Produce said,
October 30, 2006 at 3:06 pm
[...] Going organic is a bit of a no-brainer. Even low amounts of pesticides can, over time, accumulate steadily in the fatty and tissue of our bodies, resulting in adverse effects ranging from acute poisoning to the long-term potential for cancer. Children, infants, and fetuses are especially vulnerable because pesticides can affect their developing nervous, endocrine, immune, and reproductive systems, resulting in a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, birth defects, infertility, asthma, weakened immune systems, nerve and neurological damage, emotional disorders, and more. [...]
The Worsted Witch » Fight Grime, Twist and Shout said,
July 9, 2007 at 12:36 pm
[...] Like the rest of Twist’s line, its Loofah Sponges are packed in très chic paperboard boxes that the company says are “earth friendly and recyclable.” (It doesn’t mention if its packaging is made from recycled paper with any kind of post-consumer content, however, which in PR-speak usually means they’re not.) Another quibble: The antibacterial agent Twist adds to its sponges and cloths (Barquat CB 50). Here’s where things get hairy—synthetic antibacterial disinfectants are not only classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as pesticides (which have been strongly linked to the development of Parkinson’s), they could also be encouraging drug-resistant superbacteria, allergies, immune-system failure, and dangerous environmental pollution. [...]