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My mom was diagnosed with PD at the age of 61, not a "young" patient, I guess. She did spend all of her summers on a farm and winters in a small town in a rural community. Mom smoked for awhile in her twenties, never a heavy smoker, and hasn't smoked for about 40 years. I had read of the farm/chemical connecti on, and wondered if her PD was linked. However, her sister who is slightly older does not have PD and would have been exposed to the same environment. I was recently involved in a discussion of dangers of chemicals with a chemist/ toxicologist, who said that virtually anything is toxic but it all depends on dosage. Also involved is an individual susceptibility to a chemical, in other words, two people exposed to exactly the same dosages of a chemical can have significantly different reactions. That is part of the mystery of PD and many other ailments---you can identify risk factors, but there are so many factors involved that you can't predict with complete accuracy who might develop the disease---some people might be statistically more likely to develop PD, or breast cancer, or any of a host of other ailments. So while there might be a "typical" PD case history, there will be just as many exceptions. Just a few random thoughts from a lay person, wondering why my mom has this ailment. I'll be interested to hear the thoughts of others. Mary Vass