CHE: Better measures of exposure needed to clarify role of environment in Parkinson’s disease

In June 2007, the Collaborative for Health and Environment (CHE) released a Consensus Statement on Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the environment. CHE is HEAL partner based in the United States. The Statement was created through a collaborative review of current scientific data by leading academics, clinicians and medical professionals. Parkinson’s disease (PD) typically strikes people over 50 years old. PD is a nervous system dysfunction where dopamine (DA) producing cells in the brain are lost, which causes interrupted motor movements, loss of balance and uncontrollable tremors. Studies conclude that most cases of PD are caused by an interaction between environmental factors and our own individual genetics. Therefore, CHE has undertaken this work to identify the environmental contributors to PD risk.

In this straight-forward consensus document, CHE collaborators have outlined the level of confidence with which they draw conclusions based on the available evidence. Limited evidence suggests that there is an association between risk of PD and men with high dairy intake, farmers and agricultural workers, or exposure to pesticides . There is insufficient evidence to determine an association between risk of PD and women occupationally exposed to PCBs, exposure to heavy metals or exposure to the specific pesticides: paraquat, maneb, dieldrin. In order to clarify these relationships, CHE calls for better measures of exposures and the creation of a PD registry in order to describe patterns and trends in disease manifestation.

Link to the Chemicals Health Monitor and information on Chemicals & Parkinson’s disease

Link to CHE’s “Parkinson’s disease and environment fact sheet”

Link to CHE’s Working Group on Parkinson’s disease and the Environment