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I spent a year in Vietnam 70-71. I participated in a VA study in Columbus Ohio when the Agent Orange issue became a hot topic in the late 70's or early 80's. I don't remember the final outcome but it was "not anything of significance". I don't even remember what prompted me to participate. I have asked three different neuologists and several doctors if my Parkinsons could have been caused by AO and every one of them in their words said it would not. The only thing I remember being told is that it caused a skin problem called something like Chloroacne. If I remember right the really bad component in AO was Dioxin which if you can believe everything you read is found in our food, coffee, coffee filters, etc. etc. Do we all have our own pet ideas on what stressor/s caused our own systems to break down? If so maybe we could prepare for a survey by listing everyones ideas on what caused THEIR PD. My personal list of suspects are: 1) Agent Orange 2) mercury (amalgam fillings) 3) severe psycological stress 4) alcohol 5) smoking 6) anti-malaria pills Gee this list could get very long if everybody has many suspects! Anyway, after we compile a list of the suspects, we could then circulate the questionaire to the list. If everyone on the list would respond for themselves and significant others who have/not have PD then would we have a statistically significant sample? Would any statustician care to comment? It seems to me the shared wisdom of this group could be tremendous if it is focused correctly after all we live with the disease 24 hours a day! mike