A friend of mine from California who is generously donating his time on our
web site, sent the following post to me.

Discovery last week concerning PD pasted below and at this link. D.

http://www.panna.org/panna/resources/panups/panup_20000804.dv.html
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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.

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting
on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media.
It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and
non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to
pesticides worldwide.

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all
contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit our extensive
web site at http://www.panna.org to learn more about getting involved.


Alison Landes
Take Charge America - Cure Parkinson's, Inc.
www.cureparkinsons.org