Parkinson's  Pesticides

Pesticide Use Increases Chance of Parkinson's in Men

On June 14, 2006, a Mayo Clinic study established that men who used pesticides for farming or any other intentions raised their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The findings of the study have been published in the June issue of Movement Disorders. The study also determined that pesticide contact did not increase the danger of Parkinson's in women. Additionally, no other domestic or industrial chemicals were significantly linked to the disease in men or women.

Jim Maraganore, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and study investigator, says “This confirms what has been found in previous studies: that occupational or other exposure to herbicides, insecticides and other pesticides increases risk for Parkinson's.” "What we think may be happening is that pesticide use combines with other risk factors in men's environment or genetic makeup, causing them to cross over the threshold into developing the disease. By contrast, estrogen may protect women from the toxic effects of pesticides."

Mayo Clinic Study
Mayo Clinic examiners contacted all residents in Olmsted County, Minnesota, who had developed Parkinson's disease between 1976 and 1995. Each person with Parkinson's disease was matched for comparison to someone similar in age and gender that did not have the disease. Mayo Clinic researchers then began to conduct telephone interviews with 149 residents with Parkinson's and 129 who did not have the disease. The data from the phone interviews determined if individuals had exposure to chemical products via farming occupation, non-farming occupation or hobbies. 

After reviewing all the information gathered during the phone interviews, the Mayo Clinic team was unable to conclude through these interviews the exact exposure levels of these individuals or the cumulative lifetime exposure to pesticides. In general, the study established that men with Parkinson's disease were 2.4 times more likely to have had exposure to pesticides than those who did not have Parkinson's diseasae.

Legal Help for Victims 
If you or a loved has been exposed to pesticides and were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified pollutants attorney. Alternatively, call our toll free number: 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636). 

Pesticide Exposure Ups Diabetes Risk

May 28, 2008 | Parker Waichman Alonso LLP
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Researchers in the United States are reporting that certain chlorinated pesticides put a school worker in South Africa at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.  The researchers also report that the greater the exposure, the greater the risk.A compound containing the organoclorine lindane was used to fumigate a building on school property in Groblersdal in the Limpopo province of South Africa. In humans, lindane primarily affects the nervous...

Research suggests link between pesticides and brain disease

Jul 28, 2006 | Minnesota Public Radio
Researchers at the University of North Dakota are quick to point out these are preliminary results covering one year of a planned four-year study. But Dr. Patrick Carr says there's clear evidence pesticide exposure at relatively low doses affect brain cells. "Some areas of the brain displayed what I would call physical changes in other words, a loss of neurons in particular regions of the brain," says Carr. "In other regions of the brain you wouldn't notice a change in the...

Parkinson's and pesticide exposure

Jul 21, 2006
Although the causes of Parkinson's are not well understood, it has long been suspected that environmental factors play a large role.     Parkinson's disease, first described in the early 1800s by British physician James Parkinson as "shaking palsy," is among the most prevalent neurological disorders. In a recent article in Scientific American, "According to the United Nations, at least four million people worldwide have it; in North America, estimates run from 500,000...

Pesticide Dieldrin Linked to Increased Risk of Parkinson's Disease

Jul 7, 2006 | www.rxpgnews.com
A team of Emory University researchers has found a connection in laboratory mice between developmental exposure to the pesticide dieldrin (now banned from use) during gestation and lactation and an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD). The findings are significant because most studies aimed at determining the disease process in PD have been focused on events occurring during adulthood, not during developmental stages. The pesticide dieldrin was banned for most uses by...

Pesticides exposure associated with parkinson's disease

Jun 26, 2006 | www.yubanet.com
In the first large-scale, prospective study to examine possible links between chronic, low-dose exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's disease (PD), researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have shown that individuals reporting exposure to pesticides had a 70 percent higher incidence of PD than those not reporting exposure. No increased risk of PD was found from reported exposure to other occupational hazards, including asbestos, coal or stone dust, chemicals, acids, or...