Recent research study shows that pesticides and herbicides utilized in farming might be adding to greater rates of Parkinson’s illness in specific U.S. areas, highlighting the requirement for more thorough research studies and possible decrease in pesticide use to alleviate illness threat.
An initial research study just recently provided at the American Academy of Neurology’s 76 th Annual Meeting has actually connected pesticides and herbicides utilized in farming to Parkinson’s illness in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains area of the nation
“We used geographic methods to examine the rates of Parkinson’s disease across the United States and compared those rates to regional levels of pesticide and herbicide use,” stated research study author Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, of Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix,Arizona “Our methods enabled us to identify parts of the nation where there was a relationship between most pesticides and Parkinson’s disease and subsequently pinpoint where the relationship was strongest so we could explore specific pesticides in that region. In the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains region, we identified 14 pesticides associated with Parkinson’s disease.”
Krzyzanowski stated the area consisted of parts of Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Findings
The research study included an evaluation of records from the 21.5 million individuals registered in Medicare in 2009 to figure out the rate of Parkinson’s illness for numerous areas throughout the nation. The scientists then tried to find a possible relationship in between these rates of Parkinson’s and making use of 65 pesticides.
They discovered that the pesticides and herbicides simazine, atrazine, and lindane had the greatest relationship with Parkinson’s illness. When scientists divided counties into 10 groups based upon direct exposure to pesticides, individuals residing in the counties with the greatest quantity of application of the herbicide simazine were 36% most likely to have Parkinson’s illness than individuals residing in the counties with the most affordable quantity of direct exposure.
In the counties with the greatest direct exposure to simazine, 411 brand-new Parkinson’s illness cases established per every 100,000 individuals compared to 380 cases in the counties with the most affordable direct exposure.
For the herbicide atrazine, those exposed to the greatest quantity were 31% most likely to have Parkinson’s illness than those with the most affordable direct exposure. For the insecticide lindane, those with the most direct exposure were 25% most likely to have the illness.
In the counties with the greatest direct exposure to atrazine, 475 brand-new Parkinson’s illness cases established per every 100,000 individuals compared to 398 cases in the counties with the most affordable direct exposure. In the counties with the greatest direct exposure to lindane, 386 brand-new Parkinson’s illness cases established per every 100,000 individuals compared to 349 cases in the counties with the most affordable direct exposure.
Concerns and Limitations
The results stayed the exact same when scientists changed for other elements that might impact the threat of Parkinson’s illness, such as air contamination direct exposure.
“It’s concerning that previous studies have identified other pesticides and herbicides as potential risk factors for Parkinson’s, and there are hundreds of pesticides that have not yet been studied for any relationship to the disease,” Krzyzanowski stated. “Much more research is needed to determine these relationships and hopefully to inspire others to take steps to lower the risk of disease by reducing the levels of these pesticides.”
A restriction of the research study was that it depended on making use of county-level quotes because person-level details on pesticide direct exposure was not readily available for the research study population.
Meeting: 2024 American Academy of Neurology’s 76 th Annual Meeting
The research study was supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
