At 11:48 PM 5/17/2004, you wrote:
>KF,
>




I   Don't think it is harmful  to speculate  as to the cause of
PD   I  think   that I had a  genetic   predisposition   plus When   I was
a kid I was exposed exposed to a   lot of   Agricultural  chemicals. You
see my Mother had PD as did my grandfather.  I look at the      genetic
predisposition  was like calking a gun  but the exposure to the chemicals
was like pulling the trigger.   Then the gun goes  off

>As PWP on a discussion group I feel we have a right to talk freely on
>subjects such as neurotoxicity etc.
>Leaving it up to scientists is what we're doing. I think most of us have
>undergone tests, donated money or helped with fundraising etc. to
>encourage this.
>So KF let us keep discussing and I promise you we won't hinder any research.
>             Lee (LW)
>KF Etzold <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>There have been a number of posts on the possible effect of pesticides on
>the incidence of Parkinson's. Unfortunately the cause of PD is unknown.
>While it is tempting to attribute the disease to a specific cause, the only
>way to do this correctly is with painstaking statistical studies. The
>corollary, of course, is that if the cause was known a cure could be
>found or at least the disease could be avoided. As an example: Exposure to
>pesticides causes PD? Maybe yes maybe no. What connects the two? It would
>seem that if there is truly a causal relation the incidence of PD would be
>much higher.
>
>Similarly, there have been suggestions of Head Trauma causes PD (Mohammed
>Ali), and discussions on the list by those who have had trauma and PD. What
>about those that have had trauma but no PD? Then there is the historical
>incidence of PD before pesticides were used.The point is nobody really
>knows the cause of PD and therefore it is essentially impossible to
>speculate on causes. It can be wasteful and diluting any effort toward a
>cure to latch onto a cause and try to establish a correlation. The example
>is Electromagnetic (EM) radiation from power lines. A huge effort has
>resulted in no correlation with any disease but it has resulted in a
>terrible waste of valuable resources. Just as in PD, clusters have been
>found but no cause and effect.
>
>The purpose of this note is to warn about jumping to conclusions, let the
>scientists do their work, and hopefully an answer will emerge. The purpose
>is also to state that statistics are the only way to get a handle on
>diseases such as PD, even though some will argue that you can prove
>anything with statistics especially when the result is not to their liking.
>
>K. F. Etzold CG Carline
>
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