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> From: Tebay, Wendy (MSMAIL) <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Toxicology testing > Date: Friday, 18 April 1997 1:57 > I saw something interesting on CNN this morning, which may have some > direct/indirect interest to those involved with PD. ... > ... They were trying to develop methods of using human > liver cells, rather than animal tests, to determine the potential > toxicity of various chemicals. ... Supposedly, if > this method can be shown to be a viable alternative to current testing > methods, the major benefit would be that it would be faster and > cheaper, not to mention the fact that animal testing is not always a > reliable indicator of a substances effect on humans due to different > physiologies. I wonder if something like this could be used to investigate means of alleviating the nausea, vomiting, and other upsets many people experience with many drugs? Experimental animals can't tell researchers how they feel. Besides, I don't like the idea of causing pain and discomfort in some of God's creatures, to benefit some others of them. Maybe some researcher out there might like to work on using human stomach cells to ascertain the reactions to a particular drug, then try various means to prevent this reaction. This is particularly relevant to PD, as the L-dopa medications do not work in the stomach, but in the small intestine, but nevertheless upset the stomach! It would certainly be a relief to give up having to take yet more drugs to relieve the side effects of the necessary medications! :-) > > ... I thought that this was interesting to those involved with PD for a > couple reasons. As is known, pesticides, heavy metals, and other > substances are thought to play a role in triggering the disease for > some people. ... In searching for a cause for PD, we must never lose sight of the fact that PD was identified long before many of the modern pesticides and other environmental toxins existed. So the cause, or causes, and/or triggers must also explain these early occurrences. This is not as impossible as it may at first seem. For example, if nicotine as an insecticide were identified as a factor, then that might be connected to absorption by smoking tobacco in an earlier age. Environmental lead from leaded petrol burning might be equated to lead-based paints, or to lead plumbing pipes in earlier times, etc. Jim