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I personally feel that many of the substances that people have recently said they've been exposed to in the past (including lead, organophosphates, photographic chemicals, etc., etc.,) could all be likely candidates for causing pd, or perhaps other neurological/physiological problems. There are probably, however, for most (althouogh not necessarily all) people, in addition to their personal exposure histories and subsequent disease manifestations, at least a couple pre-existing conditions that must be met: 1. The person must have some sort of susceptibility toward the given disease and/or the particular substance(s) and 2) Possibly the right combination of substances and timing of their exposures may be necessary (i.e., some substances which alone may be perfectly harmless, but when combined with other similarly "harmless' substances, may together have a synergistic effect that is toxic). This possible synergism and individual susceptibility makes for a very difficult task of defining a specific "cause." Nevertheless, there are likely some general trends, that given some sort of national database, could be explored further, such as is there a higher than normal incidence of pd amongst farmers, chemists, photographers, painters, plumbers (lead), etc. Does the geographical distribution give any clues (industrial urban areas vs rural farming areas)? Data such as this could also be useful, as Dr. Callender stated in this lecture I have taped, in legal cases where one is trying to prove a direct link between exposure to a given substance and subsequent disease and/or impairment. When the defense asks "show me another case where this has also occurred...", then info such as this could be used to further one's argument. Some possible existing sources of related information that someone (or group) with the background and funding could use, include the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database (which has a subset called TOXNET. I have an account to these databases and the necessary interface software - and I intend to eventually research the TOXNET database for info on drug reactions and other cases where substances may have caused pd-related neurological damage.), the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the FDA (they must keep data on adverse drug reactions as new drugs are developed and later used), any pesticide organizations (including PAN (!!) - Pesticide Action Network), the National Institue for Environmental Health and Safety (NIEHS - not totally sure if I got the full title correct), ATSDR, CDC, EPA, OHSA (Occupational Health & Safety Administration??), local/state poison control centers and environmental agencies, National environmental groups (Greenpeace, Sierra Club), World Health Organization, ad inifnitum. Alot of the info probably exists somewhere amongst this maze of bureacracy and whatever, but it'd take a good while and resources to identify it, remove duplication, and focus on the data trends. Once done, however, the value added would be tremendous. I've seen mentioned also a couple times here an upcoming conference in Sept., in Atlanta, to be held on the subject of Environmental Health (and PD?). I think this would be a great forum for initiating, or at least planting the idea of starting, a project to pull together the statistics from these varied resources and create this resource for pd and for possibly other environmentally influenced disseases. DOES ANYONE HAVE, OR KNOW WHERE TO FIND, INFO ON THIS CONFERENCE?? I know I'm seriously thinking of going, since that's where my interests definintely lie. Comments and ideas are welcome! Wendy Tebay