Parkinson's Disease and Pesticides
Recently, one of my relatives, who is a farmer, got diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.
He is 45 years old and has no positive family history.
One of the doctor told us that the occurence of the disease could be explained by his daily exposure to pesticides while another one refuted this theory due to a lack of proper "evidence".
I am a little bit lost with these statements as several members of our family are still working as farmers and we are concerned about getting the disease too.
My question: is there any proven link between Parkinson's Disease and pesticide exposure?
Thank you in advance for your help.
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Yes (ish), this meta-analysis proved a strong correlation between exposure to pesticides and likelihood of developing Parkinson's. Note, there is no direct X level of exposure leads to Y likelihood, just a strong correlation.
"Although the risk of PD increased with increased duration of exposure
to pesticides, no significant dose-response relation was established,
and no specific type of pesticide was identified. Our findings suggest
that exposure to pesticides may be a significant risk factor for
developing PD"
A meta-analysis of Parkinson's disease and exposure to pesticides.
Priyadarshi A, Khuder SA, Schaub EA, Shrivastava S. Neurotoxicology.
2000 Aug;21(4):435-40.
A more recent meta-analysis reviewed the aforementioned meta-analysis and while criticising some of the limitations of the study (in particular the heterogeneity of the included trials) concluded:
The literature supports the hypothesis that exposure to pesticides or
solvents is a risk factor for PD. Further prospective and high-quality
case-control studies are required to substantiate a cause-effect
relationship. The studies should also focus on specific chemical
agents.
(Pezzoli G et al. Exposure to pesticides or solvents and risk of
Parkinson disease. Neurology. 2013 May 28;80(22):2035-41. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318294b3c8.)
Not directly about pesticides but I have years ago read that Parkinson's is post-Industrial Revolution disease -- that is, it started to be observed once coal started to be used in large quantities for powering industrial furnaces and engines. One could argue that the increase in life span that occurred at around the same time might be responsible for cases being observed then or simply that doctors only began to diagnose it around then but firstly, people have throughout history lived into old age and secondly, it is very plausible (to me, anyway) that anything that is neurotoxic, including particulates in coal smoke/mercury liberated by burning of coal, contributes to many neurological diseases including Parkinson's. Of course, many insecticides by design are neurotoxic to insects and were based on nerve gases developed for use on humans.
EDIT: www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=97-P13-00033&segmentID=1 https://www.poison.org/articles/2010-jun/pesticide-and-nerve-agent-commonality
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