Sent to me by a colleague....

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>P A N U P S
>Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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>Parkinson's Linked to Residential Pesticide Use
>
>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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--------- My opinions are my own, NIP's opinions are theirs ----------
Simon J. Coles                                 Email: [log in to unmask]
New Information Paradigms                  Work Phone: +44 1344 753703
http://www.nipltd.com/                     Work Fax:   +44 1344 753742
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