Barb Wilkie's EHN Website
Last updated 2008

By: Connie Eash
EHN web-posted October 26, 2000 by permission of Connie Eash

Recently, a woman asked me if her husband's recent onset of Parkinson's disease might be related to the contamination of their home with bendiocarb five years ago. Both the husband and wife made efforts to decontaminate their mobile home by removing all carpeting, window treatments and cleaning intensively, including having the heat ducts cleaned.

The husband, once retired, had to return to work to earn the money to decontaminate their home and now, finally, to buy another mobile home to replace the contaminated one. The couple's health and that of their pets have been affected.

They have had no success in getting help from the pest contol company or government agencies such as the EPA or the PA Dept of Agriculture. Their doctor has refused to consider any testing for pesticide poisoning. They are stuck in an HMO and have no money for medical bills.

This is a story I hear repeatedly when people are poisoned with pesticides, especially when their own homes are contaminated. I did a medline search and was surprised at the volume of scientific studies linking pesticide use to Parkinson's disease. I was under the impression that the link was recently made and based on a single study. On the contrary, studies are abundant, consistent, and date back to 1994.

1) Although there is no direct evidence for bendiocarb causing Parkinson's disease, there are many papers showing that people are about twice as likely to develop Parkinson's Disease with either insecticide or herbicide use at home. See:

 

• "Exposure to Home Pesticides Linked to Parkinson Disease" JAMA Jun 21, 2000 website:
  http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v283n23/ffull/jmn0621-1.html

   

• "A meta-analysis of Parkinson's Disease and exposure to pesticides" Neurotoxicology 200 Aug*

   

• "Parkinson's disease mortality and pesticide exposure in California" Int J Epidemiol 200 Apr*

   

• "Pesticides and Parkinson's Disease" Biomed Pharmacother 1999 Apr

   

• "Parkinson's Disease, pesticides and glutathione transferase polymorphisms" Lancet 1998 Oct 24*

   

• "The risk of Parkinson's disease with exposure to pesticides, farming well water and rural living" Neurology 1998 May*

   

• "Environmental risk factors for Parkinson's disease in an urban multiethnic community" Neurology 1998 Jan

   

• "Environmental risk factors and Parkinson's disease: a case-control study in Taiwan" Neurology 1997 Jun

   

• "Possible environmental, occupational, and other etiologic factors for Parkinson's disease: a case-control study in Germany" Neurology 1996 May*

   

• "Parkinson's disease and brain levels of organochlorine pesticides" Ann Neurol 1994 Jul

   

• "Risk-factors for Parkinson's disease: case-control study in the province of Caceres, Spain " Acta Neurol Scand 1994 Mar*

   

2) Reversible Parkinson's disease symptoms were documented with five patients following organophosphate exposure. Although bendiocarb is not an organophosphate, it is a carbamate insecticide, which also inhibits acetylcholinesterase as it's major mechanism of action.

 

• "Acute and reversible parkinsonism due to organophosphate pesticide intoxication: five cases" Neurology 1999 Apr 22*

   

3) Parkinson's Disease type symptoms were produced in rats with exposure to Rotenone, an insecticide which has been thought for years to be 'less toxic' than most. See:

 

• "Pesticide Study Aides Parkinson Research" JAMA Dec 1999 website:
  http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v282n23/ffull/jmn1215-4.html

   

4) Also, a factor is the genetic deficiency in a type of glutathione. Glutathione is an antioxidant responsible for the removal of toxins, including pesticides, from the body. Despite numerous studies linking this deficiency to Parkinson's disease, only one study is published reporting the effect of IV administration of glutathione. This study showed good results.

 

• "Reduced intravenous glutathione in the treatment of early Parkinson's disease" Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 1996 Oct*

  Hopefully, IV administration as a therapy for Parkinson's disease will be further investigated.

   

You might notice that earlier studies are in other countries and it takes a while for anything to be done in the US. Most of the studies done in the US are by the drug and chemical industry. Usually, even US academic work is funded by industry or done in universities that depend on industry funding. Of course, the industry does not want its products linked to illnesses. I have found in virtually every case of researching the health effects of pesticides, the best and earliest research is done in technically advanced countries that are less influenced by the hand of industry. US government and industry proponents like to pretend that other countries have inferior research, but the truth is US students fall behind in every measure of math and science ability. Why would inferior research come from countries that have a better science and math educational system?

These studies have looked at other environmental factors, and pesticide exposure seems to be the most consistent factor in all the studies I found.

In order to see the abstracts of the above mentioned studies, go to: www.medscape.com, register for free and do a medline search for "pyrethroid and Parkinson's disease." The JAMA articles can be read in there entirety from the JAMA website: http://jama.ama-assn.org/