Here's some additional info regarding the link between pesticides and
parkinson's disease.  I downloaded this from Medline:
 
**************
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
7
AU  - Hubble JP
AU  - Cao T
AU  - Hassanein RE
AU  - Neuberger JS
AU  - Koller WC
TI  - Risk factors for Parkinson's disease [see comments]
SI  - TOXBIB/94/020288
CM  - Comment in: Neurology 1993 Sep;43(9):1641-3
SO  - Neurology; VOL 43, ISS 9, 1993, P1693-7
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) has been associated with rural living,
      well-water consumption, and pesticide exposure; however, the
      individual risk contribution of these variables has not been
      established. We examined social and medical histories of
      predominantly rural populations to determine relative risk
      factors for PD. Patients and controls were surveyed regarding
      residency, occupation, medical history, and social and dietary
      habits. An initial multiple logistic regression model was
      confounded by excessive variable colinearity. Principal factor
      analysis yielded three factors: rural living (including years of
      rural residency and ground-water use), pesticide use, and male
      lifestyle (male gender, head trauma, male-dominated occupations).
      Other variables did not load in factor analysis and were entered
      separately, with the three factor scores, in a second multiple
      logistic regression model. Significant predictors of PD emerged
      (in order of strength): pesticide use, family history of
      neurologic disease, and history of depression. The predicted
      probability of PD was 92.3% (odds ratio = 12.0) with all three
      predictors positive. Pesticide use (distinguishable from rural
      living) can be considered a risk factor for the development of
      PD, with family history of neurologic disease and history of
      depression serving as weaker predictors of PD.
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Agriculture
MH  - Alcohol Drinking
MH  - Female
MH  - Herbicides/ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Human
MH  - Life Style
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Age
MH  - *Occupational Exposure
MH  - Parkinson Disease/*EPIDEMIOLOGY/ETIOLOGY
MH  - Pesticides/ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Regression Analysis
MH  - Risk Factors
MH  - *Rural Health
MH  - Smoking/ADVERSE EFFECTS
RN  - 0 (Herbicides)
RN  - 0 (Pesticides)
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
8
AU  - Semchuk KM
AU  - Love EJ
AU  - Lee RG
TI  - Parkinson's disease and exposure to agricultural work and
      pesticide chemicals.
SI  - TOXBIB/92/319287
SO  - Neurology; VOL 42, ISS 7, 1992, P1328-35
AB  - This population-based case-control study of 130 Calgary residents
      with neurologist-confirmed idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD)
      and 260 randomly selected age- and sex-matched community controls
      attempted to determine whether agricultural work or the
      occupational use of pesticide chemicals is associated with an
      increased risk for PD. We obtained by personal interviews
      lifetime occupational histories, including chemical exposure
      data, and analyzed the data using conditional logistic regression
      for matched sets. In the univariate analysis, a history of field
      crop farming, grain farming, herbicide use, or insecticide use
      resulted in a significantly increased crude estimate of the PD
      risk, and the data suggested a dose-response relation between the
      PD risk and the cumulative lifetime exposure to field crop
      farming and to grain farming. However, in the multivariate
      analysis, which controlled for potential confounding or
      interaction between the exposure variables, previous occupational
      herbicide use was consistently the only significant predictor of
      PD risk. These results support the hypothesis that the
      occupational use of herbicides is associated with an increased
      risk for PD.
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Aged, 80 and over
MH  - Agricultural Workers' Diseases/*EPIDEMIOLOGY
MH  - Alberta/EPIDEMIOLOGY
MH  - Analysis of Variance
MH  - Case-Control Studies
MH  - Chi-Square Distribution
MH  - Female
MH  - Human
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Age
MH  - Occupational Exposure/*ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Parkinson Disease/*EPIDEMIOLOGY
MH  - Pesticides/*ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Risk Factors
MH  - Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
RN  - 0 (Pesticides)
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
9
AU  - Jimenez-Jimenez FJ
AU  - Mateo D
AU  - Gimenez-Roldan S
TI  - Exposure to well water and pesticides in Parkinson's disease: a
      case-control study in the Madrid area.
SI  - TOXBIB/92/261644
SO  - Mov Disord; VOL 7, ISS 2, 1992, P149-52
AB  - Past exposure to well water and pesticides was assessed in 128
      unselected Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and 256 age and
      sex-matched controls. All were residents in a defined urban area
      of Madrid, Spain. In keeping with other reports, we found that
      exposure to well water might be a factor associated with the
      likelihood of developing PD, though only prolonged exposures of
      30 years or longer were significantly different between PD and
      controls (p less than 0.02). In contrast, past exposure to
      pesticides did not appear to be associated with an increased risk
      of developing PD. Prolonged well water drinking antedating the
      development of PD was not associated with early onset of the
      disease, nor did such cases progress to greater disability.
      Future case-control studies addressing prolonged well water
      consumption as a risk factor in PD should look for differences in
      the content of substances other than pesticides in the water as
      determined by the source of water to which patients may have been
      specifically exposed.
MH  - Aged
MH  - Female
MH  - Human
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Age
MH  - Parkinson Disease, Symptomatic/*CHEMICALLY INDUCED/DIAGNOSIS
MH  - Pesticide Residues/*ADVERSE EFFECTS/ANALYSIS
MH  - Risk Factors
MH  - *Rural Population
MH  - Spain
MH  - Water Pollutants, Chemical/ADMINISTRATION & DOSAGE/*ADVERSE
      EFFECTS
MH  - Water Supply/*ANALYSIS
RN  - 0 (Pesticide Residues)
RN  - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical)
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
10
AU  - Bachurin SO
AU  - Tkachenko SE
AU  - Lermontova NN
TI  - Pyridine derivatives: structure-activity relationships causing
      parkinsonism-like symptoms.
SI  - TOXBIB/92/123973
SO  - Rev Environ Contam Toxicol; VOL 122, 1991, P1-36 (REF: 147)
AB  - In recent years, sufficient evidence has surfaced to implicate
      low-molecular-weight organic compounds in certain known
      neurological disorders. At this time,
      1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is considered
      the compound capable of inducing conditions most similar to
      idiopathic parkinsonism in clinical, biochemical, and
      histopathological characteristics. Substances containing
      MPTP-like fragments are used as herbicides, drugs and
      intermediates in the synthesis of many heterocyclic compounds.
      The mechanistic study of toxic MPTP action has enabled
      development of criteria for appraising potential parkinsonogenic
      properties of similar chemical structures. Key features of MPTP
      action include the following: 1. Ability to pass through the
      blood-brain barrier (BBB). 2. Enzymatic biotransformation to the
      neuroactive form (pyridine metabolites). 3. Transfer to neurons
      via a neuromediator reuptake system. 4. Action on intracellular
      targets. This review discusses data concerning the effects of
      metabolite structure on the major steps in the neurotropic action
      mechanism of MPTP-like compounds. Special attention is focused on
      the key steps defining the selectivity of MPTP's neuronal action,
      i.e., the activation step caused by monoamine oxidase (MAO) and
      interaction with the dopamine (DA) reuptake system. Most
      structural MPTP analogs (including certain pesticide
      preparations) used in our experiments and described in the
      literature exhibit no degenerative MPTP-like properties. This is
      probably related to the fact that each consecutive stage in the
      MPTP neurotoxicity mechanism makes rather stringent demands on
      metabolite structure. The number of structures which concurrently
      meet the requirements of all the processes is finite. This,
      however, does not invalidate the hypotheses concerning the
      ecotoxic nature of idiopathic parkinsonism. Possible ecotoxins
      may have only a partial, presymptomatic effect which, however,
      promotes age-related neurodegenerative processes and accelerates
      development of parkinsonism. This concept necessitates designing
      special tests of the possible neurotoxic properties of compounds
      found in the environment which may be functional MPTP analogs.
MH  - Animal
MH  - Human
MH  - Parkinson Disease, Symptomatic/*CHEMICALLY INDUCED
MH  - Pyridines/*ADVERSE EFFECTS/CHEMISTRY/TOXICITY
MH  - Structure-Activity Relationship
MH  - 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine/*ADVERSE EFFECTS/
      CHEMISTRY/TOXICITY
RN  - 0 (Pyridines)
RN  - 28289-54-5 (1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine)
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
11
AU  - Wechsler LS
AU  - Checkoway H
AU  - Franklin GM
AU  - Costa LG
TI  - A pilot study of occupational and environmental risk factors for
      Parkinson's disease.
SI  - TOXBIB/92/080182
SO  - Neurotoxicology; VOL 12, ISS 3, 1991, P387-92
AB  - Increasingly, the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been
      linked to exposures to environmental toxicants. This
      epidemiologic pilot study used a self-administered questionnaire
      among 34 PD cases and 22 other neurology clinic control patients.
      All subjects were at least 40 years old. Risk factors
      investigated included occupation, well-water use, pesticide use,
      metal exposures, medical history, smoking, alcohol consumption,
      and drug use. Twenty-six percent of the male PD cases reported
      having been employed in farming versus eleven percent for male
      controls (OR = 3.1, 95% C.I. = 0.3 to 35). Sixteen percent of
      male cases versus none of the controls reported employment as
      welders. No clear trends involving exposure to either
      occupational or home pesticides emerged. In assessing
      occupational exposures to metals, aluminum and copper exposures
      tended to be more common among male cases than male controls.
      Additionally, as reported in other studies, smoking showed an
      inverse relationship with PD. Although the findings reported here
      are provocative, these results are statistically imprecise and
      must be interpreted cautiously because of the small number of
      subjects included in the study.
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Case-Control Studies
MH  - Environmental Pollutants/*ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Female
MH  - Human
MH  - Male
MH  - Metals/ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Middle Age
MH  - Occupational Diseases/*CHEMICALLY INDUCED
MH  - Parkinson Disease, Symptomatic/*CHEMICALLY INDUCED
MH  - Pesticides/ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Pilot Projects
MH  - Risk Factors
MH  - Smoking/ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Water Pollutants, Chemical/ADVERSE EFFECTS
RN  - 0 (Environmental Pollutants)
RN  - 0 (Metals)
RN  - 0 (Pesticides)
RN  - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical)
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
12
AU  - Chapman LJ
AU  - Sauter SL
AU  - Henning RA
AU  - Levine RL
AU  - Matthews CG
AU  - Peters HA
TI  - Finger tremor after carbon disulfide-based pesticide exposures.
SI  - TOXBIB/91/378801
SO  - Arch Neurol; VOL 48, ISS 8, 1991, P866-70
AB  - Index finger tremor accompanying voluntary movement was studied
      in 19 age-matched control subjects and in 19 grain industry
      employees chronically exposed to carbon disulfide-based
      fumigants. Visual judgments of tremor amplitude made by
      neurologists during clinical examinations equaled the sensitivity
      of computerized tremor amplitude measurements. Tremor frequency
      variations detectable only with computerized measurement were
      present in grain workers with and without increased tremor
      amplitudes. Frequency differences discriminated between normal
      subjects and 74% of the grain workers. The distribution of tremor
      frequency power in the grain workers was often sequestered at 5
      to 7 Hz, reminiscent of tremor in idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
      These findings suggest that the measurement of subtle tremor
      frequency changes may provide an early indication of chronic
      carbon disulfide poisoning.
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Agriculture
MH  - Carbon Disulfide/*ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Electrophysiology
MH  - Elevators and Escalators
MH  - *Fingers/PHYSIOPATHOLOGY
MH  - Human
MH  - Middle Age
MH  - Muscle Contraction
MH  - Occupational Diseases/*CHEMICALLY INDUCED/DIAGNOSIS/
      PHYSIOPATHOLOGY
MH  - Pesticides/*ADVERSE EFFECTS
MH  - Transducers
MH  - Tremor/*CHEMICALLY INDUCED/DIAGNOSIS/PHYSIOPATHOLOGY
RN  - 0 (Pesticides)
RN  - 75-15-0 (Carbon Disulfide)
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
13
AU  - HUBBLE JP
AU  - CAO T
AU  - HASSANEIN R ES
AU  - NEUBERGER JS
AU  - KOLLER WC
TI  - Risk factors ofr Parkinson's disease.
SI  - BIOSIS/94/34647
SO  - NEUROLOGY; 43 (9). 1993. 1693-1697.
AB  - BIOSIS  COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS.  Parkinson's disease (PD) has been
      associated with rural living, well-water consumption, and
      pesticide exposure; however, the individual risk contribution of
      these variables has not been established. We examined social and
      medical histories of predominantly rural populations to determine
      relative risk factors for PD. Patients and controls were surveyed
      regarding residency, occupation, medical history, and social and
      dietary habits. An initial multiple logistic regression model was
      confounded by  excessive variable collinearity. Principal factor
      analysis yielded three factors: rural living (including years of
      rural residency and ground-water use), pesticide use, and male
      lifestyle (male gender, head trauma, male-dominated occupations).
      Other variables did not load in factor analysis and were entered
      separately, with the three factor scores, in a second multiple
      logistic regression model. Significant predictors of PD emerged
      (in order of strength): pesticide use, family history of
      neurologic disease, and history of depression. The predicted
      probability of PD was 92.3% (odds ratio = 12.0) with all three
      predictors positive. Pesticide use (distinguishable from rural
      living) can be considered a risk factor for the development of
      PD, with family history of neurologic disease and history of
      depression serving as weaker predictors of PD.
MH  - BEHAVIOR
MH  - HUMAN
MH  - BIOCHEMISTRY
MH  - THERAPEUTICS
MH  - MUSCULAR DISEASES/PATHOLOGY/PHYSIOPATHOLOGY
MH  - NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES/*PATHOLOGY
MH  - MENTAL DISORDERS/THERAPY/PATHOLOGY
MH  - PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
MH  - POISONING
MH  - ANIMALS, LABORATORY
MH  - HOMINIDAE
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
14
AU  - SEMCHUK KM
AU  - LOVE EJ
AU  - LEE RG
TI  - Parkinson's disease and exposure to agricultural work and
      pesticide chemicals.
SI  - BIOSIS/92/27623
SO  - NEUROLOGY; 42 (7). 1992. 1328-1335.
AB  - BIOSIS  COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS.  This population-based case-control
      study of 130 Calgary residents with neurologist-confirmed
      idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) and 260 randomly selected
      age- and sex-matched community controls attempted to determine
      whether agricultural work or the occupational use of pesticide
      chemicals is associated with an increased risk for PD. We
      obtained by personal interviews lifetime occupational histories,
      including chemical exposure data, and analyzed the data using
      conditional logistic regression for matched sets. In the
      univariate analysis, a history of field crop farming, grain
      farming, herbicide use, or insecticide use resulted in a
      significantly increased crude estimate of the PD risk, and the
      data suggested a dose-response relation between the PD risk and
      the cumulative lifetime exposure to field crop farming and to
      grain farming. However, in the multivariate analysis, which
      controlled for potential confounding or interaction between the
      exposure variables, previous occupational herbicide use was
      consistently the only significant predictor of PD risk. These
      results support the hypothesis that the occupational use of
      herbicides is associated with an increased risk for PD.
MH  - MATHEMATICS
MH  - STATISTICS
MH  - BIOLOGY
MH  - BIOCHEMISTRY
MH  - NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES/PATHOLOGY
MH  - ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS/POISONING
MH  - OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
MH  - *OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES
MH  - HERBICIDES
MH  - PEST CONTROL/METHODS
MH  - PESTICIDES
MH  - HOMINIDAE
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE
 
15
AU  - HUBBLE JP
AU  - HASSANEIN R
AU  - CAO T
AU  - NEUBERGER J
AU  - KOLLER W
TI  - HERBICIDE-PESTICIDE EXPOSURE INDEPENDENT OF RURAL LIVING AS A
      RISK FACTOR FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE
SI  - BIOSIS/92/20233
SO  - 44TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY, SAN
      DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA, MAY 3-9, 1992. NEUROLOGY; 42 (4 SUPPL.
      3). 1992. 174.
AB  - BIOSIS  COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. RRM  ABSTRACT HUMAN WATER
      CONSUMPTION
MH  - CONGRESSES
MH  - BIOLOGY
MH  - HUMAN
MH  - SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
MH  - ECOLOGY
MH  - BEHAVIOR
MH  - HUMAN
MH  - BODY WATER
MH  - NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES/PATHOLOGY
MH  - ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS/POISONING
MH  - OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
MH  - DISINFECTION
MH  - PEST CONTROL
MH  - DISEASE VECTORS
MH  - PESTICIDES
MH  - PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
MH  - STATISTICS
MH  - COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES
MH  - *AIR POLLUTION
MH  - *SOIL POLLUTANTS
MH  - *WATER POLLUTION
MH  - HERBICIDES
MH  - PEST CONTROL/METHODS
MH  - PESTICIDES
MH  - HOMINIDAE
 
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE