Judith and others,

Carbon Monoxide poisoning is known to cause a Parkinson's-like syndrome.  I
believe it damages the receptor sited for dopamine rather than the
presynaptic dopamine producing cells like PD does and therefore tends to be
resistant to l-DOPA treatment.  If I am in error about the last statement
someone pleases correct me.

Charlie

judith richards wrote:

> I had coal fume poisoning when I was in my teens, and I have wondered
> since being diagnosed with Pksns, what if any role it might have played.
> JMR
>
> 03/29/99
>
> Study: Coal Fumes Poisoning Chinese
>  By PAUL RECER=
>  AP Science Writer=
>            WASHINGTON (AP) _ Millions of Chinese are being poisoned by
>  fumes from the raw coal they burn in their homes for cooking and
>  heating, and people in other developing nations may face similar
>  risks, U.S. and Chinese scientists say in a study.
>            An estimated 800 million of China's 1.2 billion people use
> coal
>  in their homes. In many rural communities, the fuel is full of
>  arsenic, lead, mercury, fluorine and other poisonous metals that
>  can pose a serious health threat, the researchers said.
>            The poisons become part of the smoke from burning coal and
> are
>  then breathed into lungs and baked into foods, said Harvey E.
>  Belkin, co-author of a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings
>  of the National Academy of Sciences.
>            For example, peppers dried over coal fires can have up to 500
>  parts per million of arsenic, a potentially dangerous level, he
>  said.
>            ``The coal we saw in China could never be burned in the
> United
>  States'' because of the poison mineral content, said Belkin.
>  ``There is high arsenic, high selenium, high mercury.''
>            What's learned in China may point the way to solving the
> problem
>  of possible health effects from burning dirty coal, Belkin said.
>            In one Chinese province, experts have identified thousands of
>  cases of arsenic poisoning, with symptoms including skin cancer and
>  open sores.
>            In another area, at least 10 million people have fluorine
>  poisoning with many suffering from soft and misshapen bones, said
>  study co-author Robert B. Finkelman.
>            Diseases and disorders caused by burning of dirty coal are
> ``an
>  enormous problem,'' said Finkelman.
>            Such dirty coal would have to be cleaned before it could be
>  burned in the United States. And coal in any form is seldom used in
>  the U.S. for cooking.
>            In China, Belkin said, millions of people have no choice.
> About
>  22 percent of rural homes depend on coal.
>            ``If they want to cook or heat, they have to use coal,'' he
>  said. China has very little oil, gas or wood that can be used for
>  fuel. But China has the world's largest known reserves of coal. For
>  many peasants, the coal is dug out of hillsides, free for the
>  taking.
>            Many poor Chinese burn the coal in unvented stoves, filling
>  their homes with fumes, Belkin said. Indeed, early mornings in
>  rural villages finds most homes wreathed with the bluish haze of
>  coal smoke.
>            In southwest China's Guizhou province, which has beds of
>  arsenic-rich coal, farmers routinely dry peppers over coal-fired
>  stoves. The produce absorbs the smoke and fumes, and then are added
>  to virtually every food prepared, Belkin said.
>            It is unknown if the arsenic poisoning has caused any deaths,
> he
>  said, because death certificates and autopsies are rare in rural
>  China, but at least 3,000 confirmed cases of chronic arsenic
>  poisoning have been confirmed.
>            In another area, farmers use coal with a high fluorine
> content
>  to dry corn, Belkin said. The grain takes up high levels of the
>  poison mineral, he said, and as a result fluorosis, or fluorine
>  poisoning, is very common. The effects can range from discolored
>  teeth to softened, twisted and crippled bones.
>            Judy Mumford, an Environmental Protection Agency scientist
> who
>  has studied China's pollution problems, agrees that poisoning from
>  the burning of dirty coal has had a very severe health effect.
>            Chinese officials, aware of the problem, are beginning to
> search
>  for solutions, she said.
> --
> Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
> <[log in to unmask]>
>                          ^^^
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>                        \  |  /   Today’s Research
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Charles T. Meyer,  M.D.
Middleton (Madison), Wisconsin
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