 |
 |
The other day I ran across a newspaper article reporting the results of a statistical study on the incidence of Parkinson cases in certain occupations. Writers and designers were listed among the top ten job categories. This caught my eye because I worked for many years in a high tech company as a technical writer with hardware and software design engineers. I was diagnosed earlier this year with PD. The first four years with this company were spent testing, repairing, and calibrating products before they were shipped. We used carbon tetrachloride to clean solder joints made during repair. It wasn't until I moved out of that environment that they switched to a different chemical that was "safer". During the final two years there I worked in a building which housed an etched circuit board production line. The engineering group was located on the second floor which had a large part of the floor open to the production line below. To access my work area and other engineering areas required walking a catwalk over the production area several times a day. While working in this building we had to evacuate at least once because of a major chemical spill in the production area. This seems to point toward environmental hazards as a cause for PD in my case. Although the statistics make me a strong candidate as well. Health care providers were also listed. Sorry, I can't remember the others and don't know why I didn't clip the article; but maybe some of you saw it?