Herbicide and Pesticide Exposure Linked to Parkinson's Disease

A recent study from UCLA has confirmed that exposure to the herbicide Paraquat is linked with a heightened risk of Parkinson's disease. This combines with other research that has found other chemicals used on our foods and landscapes significantly increase the risk of Parkinson's.
The researchers, from UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, studied 357 Parkinson's disease cases along with 754 control subjects - adults from Central California. The researchers determined increased exposure to the herbicide Paraquat through geographic mapping linking their home locations to agricultural use of the chemical on farms. Those living closer to farms that sprayed the herbicide were found to have a 36% increased risk of Parkinson's.

However, those who experienced a head injury combined with increased Paraquat exposure tripled their chances of having Parkinson's disease.

Researchers from Mexico's Unidad de Medicina Familiar also studied cases of Parkinson's together with exposure to the herbicide Paraquat among Mexican workers. They also found a positive association between exposure to this chemical and Parkinson's disease.
Paraquat is N,N′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium dichloride.

Learn safe detoxification methods.

A study published last year from the Louvain Center for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology of Brussels' Catholic University of Louvain concluded that pesticide exposure was also significantly linked to Parkinson's. Here the researchers analyzed and calculated the data from twelve peer-reviewed clinical studies that investigated Parkinson's disease together with pesticide exposure. They collected research conducted between 1985 and 2011.

The meta-analysis found that all twelve studies individually and collectively established a link between pesticide exposure and Parkinson's disease.

After calculating meta-data ratios and relative risk, the researchers found that Parkinson's disease incidence as diagnosed by a neurologist was more than two-and-a-half times for those exposed to more pesticides compared to those less exposed. Other risk calculations showed the increased incidence of Parkinson's disease to range from nearly double to 28% - which was the average of all cases studied.

But when the research focused upon farm workers involved in the growing of bananas, pineapples or sugarcane, the incidence of Parkinson's disease more than doubled that of lower-exposure individuals.

The researchers concluded:

The present study provides some support for the hypothesis that occupational exposure to pesticides increases the risk of Parkinson's disease.

Since this review study came out, other studies have investigated some of the worst pesticides, and the mechanisms by which they produce Parkinson's disease.

A study from Korea's Yonsei University studied the broad spectrum pesticide Rotenone – and how it damages nerve cells and pathways. The researchers found that Rotenone induces cell death in a process called with G2/M cell cycle arrest. G2/M cell cycle arrest blocks the process of mitosis that enables cells and their DNA to replicate – and more importantly among nerve cells - repair any DNA damage. Thus the insecticide basically blocks the ability of the nerve cell to repair itself – lending to the cells eventually dying off or mutating.


Meanwhile, researchers from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine found that the fungicide Benomyl will block multiple cell processes. One of these blocks the production of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). This increases the dopamine metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde, which produces degeneration among neurons associated with the production of dopamine. One of the central dopamine-producing centers exists in the brain – the substantia nigra located within the midbrain.

When the nerve cells located in this region die off or become otherwise deranged, they stop producing dopamine and other neurotransmitters that help control coordination and movement throughout the body. A lack of these neurotransmitters will produce the shakiness and eventual loss of coordination characteristic amongst progressed Parkinson's patients.
Is eating non-organic food worth risking the health of not only our children and family? Is it worth risking the health of farm workers who are exposed to these toxic chemicals every day? And what about spraying pesticides and herbicides around the house?

Written by Case Adams, Naturopath

References

• Ryu HW, Oh WK, Jang IS, Park J. Amurensin G induces autophagy and attenuates cellular toxicities in a rotenone model of Parkinson's disease. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 Mar 29;433(1):121-6.
• Mostafalou S, Abdollahi M. Pesticides and human chronic diseases: evidences, mechanisms, and perspectives. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2013 Apr 15;268(2):157-77.
• León-Verastegui AG. Parkinson's disease due to laboral exposition to paraquat. Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2012 Nov-Dec;50(6):665-72.
• Fitzmaurice AG, Rhodes SL, Lulla A, Murphy NP, Lam HA, O'Donnell KC, Barnhill L, Casida JE, Cockburn M, Sagasti A, Stahl MC, Maidment NT, Ritz B, Bronstein JM. Aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibition as a pathogenic mechanism in Parkinson disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jan 8;110(2):636-41.
• Pan-Montojo F, Schwarz M, Winkler C, Arnhold M, O'Sullivan GA, Pal A, Said J, Marsico G, Verbavatz JM, Rodrigo-Angulo M, Gille G, Funk RH, Reichmann H. Environmental toxins trigger PD-like progression via increased alpha-synuclein release from enteric neurons in mice. Sci Rep. 2012;2:898.
• Lee PC, Bordelon Y, Bronstein J, Ritz B. Traumatic brain injury, paraquat exposure, and their relationship to Parkinson disease. Neurology. 2012 Nov 13;79(20):2061-6.
• Van Maele-Fabry G, Hoet P, Vilain F, Lison D. Occupational exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Environ Int. 2012 Oct 1;46:30-43.
• Lundius EG, Stroth N, Vukojević V, Terenius L, Svenningsson P. Functional GPR37 trafficking protects against toxicity induced by 6-OHDA, MPP+ or rotenone in a catecholaminergic cell line. J Neurochem. 2013 Feb;124(3):410-7.

 Source: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/herbicide-and-pesticide-exposure-linked-parkinsons-disease-0

Why Monsanto's Roudup is the Most Toxic Chemical in the Environment

Rhonda Burns | GreenMedInfo.com

When one of our world renowned professors uses the term "horrifying" in speaking about the widespread use of a chemical in our food supply, the prudent person would sit up and take notice.

That's exactly the word Dr. Don Huber used. But are we listening? Calling glyphosate "the most toxic chemical we've ever had in our environment, he says that "future historians may well look back upon our time and write, not about how many pounds of pesticides we did or did not apply, but about how willing we were to sacrifice our children and jeopardize future generations for the massive experiment we call genetic engineering that is based on failed promises and flawed science, just to benefit the bottom line of a commercial enterprise."

Dr. Don Huber

In a lecture at the FAMU Center for Viticulture in Tallahassee, Florida, Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, shared his 55 years of experience working with agriculture management practices here in the U.S. and around the world.

One only has to look at the graphs (Dr. Nancy Swanson) which clearly depict a rise in modern disease that mirrors the use of glyphosate in our agriculture system to see the correlation. In addition to the rising rates of cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes, bowel disorders, intestinal infections, dementia, liver and kidney disease, by the year 2025 it is predicted that the autism rate for children will be 1 out of every 2 children born.

Horrifying is indeed the right descriptive.

Glyphosate and Autism

Contrary to the common claim of safety, a large volume of peer-reviewed scientific information clearly demonstrates that genetically engineered products and the Roundup herbicide that 85% of those products were engineered to tolerate are chronically toxic to human and animal tissues and lead to cancer, premature death, kidney and liver failure, blood disorders and a host of other diseases including Morgellan's Disease which was nonexistent prior to the use of glyphosate.

According Dr. Ron Huber, medical data indicates that millions of children and adults are suffering from the chronically toxic GMO products or the glyphosate (Roundup) these plants accumulate. He also stated that MIT scientists documented the biochemical disruption caused by genetic engineering, concluding that glyphosate is the most chronically toxic chemical in our environment. [see study here]

Glyphosate was made in 1964 as a strong metal chelator. In 1970, it was patented as a herbicide. In 2000, it was patented as an antibiotic. 85% of our genetically engineered crops are engineered in order to accept RoundUp herbicide with glyphosate as its primary agent.

The irony is that the promise of higher yield, lower cost crops are empty promises. Reduced root growth, lower nutrient density, greater stress susceptibility and the need for more pesticides are well documented. Sugar beets, for example, require 4X more fungicide after using glyphosate. Soybeans require 2X more water to grow. The crops grown are weaker, more susceptible to disease. It is estimated that if not for federal subsidies (crop insurance) last year, 20% of American farmers would have been bankrupt.

The potential economic impact is devastating on many levels. In two years, we may not have any market for our soybeans in China. The number one reason our exports are rejected today is excessive glyphosate. The number of countries around the world who are refusing to buy our exports is steadily growing.

While 65 countries around the world currently will not accept our GMO crops due to safety concerns, our own country has no such system in place. Instead, States are fighting one by one to at least have labeling laws in place for their citizens.

Here in Florida, Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasalinda (Dem) filed the first bill of the 2014 session, House Bill 1, on August 15, 2013 concerning labeling genetically engineered foods (link here). Representative Kathleen Peters (Rep) from the Pinellas County, Florida, is co-sponsoring the bill.

Representative Vasalinda was on hand at Dr. Huber's lecture and stressed the importance of letting our elected officials know how we feel about this issue. She said that it was due to the 1,500+ petitions she received that she even tackled the issue of GMO labeling. Our voices do count, but we have to speak up.

Source: GreenMedInfo.com