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Dear Janice, There have been many attempts to find an environmental cause of PD. The big problem is to find out who HAS PD. Many object to surveys because they are jealous of their privacy. Even if they agree, running a survey costs big money and has to compete against other research priorities. There are of course many pesticides and other toxins known to cause nerve damage, and some, e.g., manganese, carbon monoxide, MPTP, specifically cause parkinsonism, but no common and pervasive culprit has been found. The best result so far is a weak correlation of PD with rural living and drinking well water. That certainly doesn't apply to most of us. Cheers, Joe J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks CA 91403 On Tue, 10 Dec 1996, GLLJLL wrote: > I would like to inquire of this Discussion Group if anyone knows whether > or not a study has been done of the prevalence of PD cases in all of the > various geographical sections of the country and, if so, what the results > show as far as which sections have the largest percentage. My thoughts > are that if such a study has been done, and it shows that the southern > states have a high percentage of PD cases, perhaps the reason might be > the high exposure to pesticides that many southerners receive in their > constant battle to rid their homes of roaches, red bugs, ants, flies, etc. > I cringe everytime my brother (who lives in Florida) tells me that they > had their entire house fumigated AGAIN. > > My curiousity about this has peaked because I began having PD symptoms at > age 33 and naturally wondered if I may have come in contact at some point > in my life with some kind of toxin. My mother happened to tell me that > when I was a baby she and my father lived in Georgia where my father was > stationed in the Army Air Corps. They subletted a cottage they were > renting temporarily to another couple who were northerners. When they > returned to reclaim the cottage, the woman told my mother that she was so > upset by the "bed bugs" (as she called them) that she found, she sprayed > the entire cottage and all the cupboards and furniture (including my crib) > with some kind of a "pump gun". My mother and father, like most people at > that time (1945) did not realize the toxicity and danger of pesticides so > didn't think much about it and we continued to live there and I continued > to sleep in my crib for some length of time. I now suspect that the spray > gun was probably filled with DDT which I believe was widely used back then > to combat all those nasty southern pests that invaded their homes. Of > course we all know DDT was banned in later years. > > I am curious what others might think of this supposition.. > > > JANICE LONG, From Kalamazoo, MI > > > . >