P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
August 4, 2000
A recent study of people newly diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease has found that home pesticide use and exposure is associated
with an increased risk of developing the disease. The study, led by Lorene
Nelson, Ph.D., a neuroepidemiologist at Stanford University's School of
Medicine, in Palo Alto, California, is the largest ever of individuals with
newly diagnosed Parkinson's, and the first to show an association between home
pesticide use and the risk of developing Parkinson's disease. The study's
findings were presented in May 2000, at the American Academy of Neurology's 52nd
Annual Meeting in San Diego, and the full report is expected to be released in
early 2001.
Nelson and her colleagues questioned 496 people who
were first diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1994 and 1995 about their past use of
pesticides in their homes or gardens. The subjects were each asked detailed
questions about types of pesticides used, frequency of use, and when they were
first exposed to household and garden pesticides.
The researchers also asked subjects about their
cigarette, alcohol and coffee consumption. A control group of 541 people without
the disease were asked the same questions.
When researchers compared the life histories of the
subjects and the control group, they found that people exposed to in-home
insecticides were 70% more likely to develop the disease than those who had not
been exposed. The average amount of time that people reported being exposed to
products in this category was 77 days.
Exposure to garden insecticides carried a 50%
increased risk of the disease, according to the study. Among herbicide users,
risk of developing Parkinson's increased as the number of days that people were
in contact with herbicides accumulated. Respondents who reported handling or
applying those products for up to 30 days were 40% more likely to develop the
disease, whereas respondents that reported higher levels of exposure, an average
of 160 days, had a 70% increased risk of developing the disease. Exposure to
fungicides, while linked to other health problems, was not determined to be a
risk factor for Parkinson's disease in this study.
According to Nelson, damage to nerve cells in a part
of the brain called the basal ganglia and subsequent deficiency in the
neurotransmitter dopamine leads to the balance and movement difficulties
characteristic of Parkinson's disease. People exposed to chemicals that have a
certain affinity to this region of the brain may be at particular risk for
developing the disease, says Nelson.
Source: Technical Report, Beyond Pesticides/National
Coalition
Against the
Misuse of Pesticides, Vol. 15, No. 7, July 2000.
Contact: Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against
the Misuse of Pesticides, 701 E Street SE, Suite 200, Washington DC 20003; phone
(202) 543-5450; fax (202) 543-4791; http://www.beyondpesticides.org.
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