Pesticide Exposure May Raise Parkinson's Risk, Study Suggests | WPN World People News

Prolonged exposure to pesticides, bug and weed killers, and solvents appears to raise the risk for developing Parkinson's disease, a new study says.

Italian investigators who reviewed more than 100 prior studies found exposure to such agents boosted Parkinson's disease risk by anywhere from 33 percent to 80 percent.

Due to this association, there was also a link between farming or country living and developing Parkinson's in some of the studies.

Some studies specifically explored how home or work environment affected disease risk. Where individuals got their water also was the subject of some investigations.

Exposure either to the weed killer paraquat or the fungicides maneb and mancozeb appeared to double the risk for Parkinson's, a progressive movement disorder, the researchers found.

Expert idn't study whether the type of exposure, such as whether the compound was inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and the method of application, such as spraying or mixing, affected Parkinson's risk. However, our study suggests that the risk increases in a dose response manner as the length of exposure to these chemicals increases.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services