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Home insecticides may raise Parkinson's risk: study WebPosted Sat May 6 08:48:13 2000 http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/05/05/Parkinsons000505 WASHINGTON - People exposed to insecticides in the home may have a higher risk of Parkinson's disease, say researchers. Dr. Lorene Nelson and colleagues at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif., carried out the study. They questioned 496 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about their past use of pesticides, herbicides, weed killers or fungicides in the home or garden. Another group of 541 people without the disease were asked the same questions. When researchers compared the two sets of surveys, they found Parkinson's patients were two times as likely to have been exposed to bug sprays at home. People exposed to herbicides also had a higher risk. But exposure to insecticides in the garden and to fungicides weren't considered risk factors. Researchers suspect insecticide chemicals damage nerve cells in a vulnerable region of the brain, but cannot fully explain the link. Parkinson's occurs when brain cells that produce an important neurotransmitter, or message-carrying chemical, are destroyed. "If we could understand why these neurons are being killed in certain circumstances, we can then try and prevent it," says Nelson. She says more research is required: "No specific guidelines regarding avoidance of pesticides can be given at this time but, in general, this is an area of public health importance that needs to be pursued." The study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in San Diego, Calif. Links: •American Academy of Neurology http://www.aan.com/ •Parkinson's Disease Foundation http://www.pdf.org/ On-line Learning Series of Courses http://www.bestnet.org/~jwalker/course.htm Member: Association for International Business _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ John S. Walker _/ _/ Publisher, CSS Internet News (tm) _/ _/ (Internet Training and Research) _/ _/ PO Box 57247, Jackson Stn., _/ _/ Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8P 4X1 _/ _/ Email [log in to unmask] _/ _/ http://www.bestnet.org/~jwalker _/ _/ _/ _/ "To Teach is to touch a life forever" _/ _/ On the Web one touch can reach so far! _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/