Home insecticides may raise Parkinson's risk: study

[John Walker <jwalker@xxxxxxxx>]

Home insecticides may raise Parkinson's risk: study 

WebPosted Sat May 6 08:48:13 2000 
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/05/05/Parkinsons000505

WASHINGTON - People exposed to insecticides in the home may have a 
higher risk of Parkinson's disease, say researchers. 

Dr. Lorene Nelson and colleagues at the Stanford University School of 
Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif., carried out the study. They questioned 496 
people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about their past 
use of pesticides, herbicides, weed killers or fungicides in the home or 
garden. 

Another group of 541 people without the disease were asked the same 
questions. 

When researchers compared the two sets of surveys, they found 
Parkinson's patients were two times as likely to have been exposed to 
bug sprays at home. People exposed to herbicides also had a higher risk. 
But exposure to insecticides in the garden and to fungicides weren't 
considered risk factors. 

Researchers suspect insecticide chemicals damage nerve cells in a 
vulnerable region of the brain, but cannot fully explain the link. 

Parkinson's occurs when brain cells that produce an important 
neurotransmitter, or message-carrying chemical, are destroyed. 

"If we could understand why these neurons are being killed in certain 
circumstances, we can then try and prevent it," says Nelson. 

She says more research is required: "No specific guidelines regarding 
avoidance of pesticides can be given at this time but, in general, this 
is an area of public health importance that needs to be pursued." 

The study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual 
meeting in San Diego, Calif. 

Links:

?American Academy of Neurology 



?Parkinson's Disease Foundation 



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