Chemicals stored in home garages increase the risk of developing Charcot disease, according to a new study.
- Storing common chemicals in the garage was significantly associated with ALS risk, a new study finds.
- Researchers suggest that the volatile organic compounds they contain reach the living areas of the home.
- New studies are underway to understand how these chemical exposures contribute to the development of ALS.
Mower, chainsaw, pesticides, solvents, paints… Beyond cars, garages are generally used to store all the chemicals and tools used for gardening or DIY. However, these objects which emit volatile organic compounds would increase the risks of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Charcot disease, a serious, debilitating and fatal degenerative neuromuscular pathology.
This is what a study from the University of Michigan published in the journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration.
Charcot disease: more risks with a garage attached to the house
To determine the impact of chemicals used by the general public, researchers assessed exposures in residential settings based on a survey of more than 600 volunteers with or without Charcot’s disease. Their statistical analysis of the data collected highlighted that the storage of chemicals – including gasoline, gasoline-powered tools, lawn care or woodworking products, pesticides and paint – was significantly associated with the risk of ALS.
“All chemicals reported linked to disease development had volatile toxic components. Most participants reported storing several of these items in their attached garage”explain the authors in their communicated.
On the other hand, this link was not significant when the garage was detached from the dwelling. Faced with this observation, the team suggests that the flow of atmospheric and volatile pollutants reaches the living rooms when the garage is adjacent to the home.
“Especially in colder climates, the air in the garage tends to rush into the house when the door is opened, and the airflows move more or less continuously through small cracks and openings in the walls and the floors”explains Stuart Batterman of the University of Michigan, lead author of the study. “So it makes sense that storing volatile chemicals in an attached garage would show the strongest effect”he concludes.
SLA: identifying environmental factors to reduce risks
This is not the first time that chemicals have been singled out in research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. For example, a 2016 study found that people with Charcot disease had higher concentrations of pesticides in their blood than those who did not have it. In 2019, scientists found that organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBS, were linked to worsening ALS prognosis.
“Identifying substances that cause disease can inform and motivate interventions to reduce exposure, risk, and ultimately the burden of ALS,” says first author Stephen Goutman, director of the Pranger ALS Center and associate director of the ALS Center of Excellence at University of Michigan.
“Home exposures are an important part of the ALS exposome, as it is a place where behavioral changes could reduce the risk of Charcot disease.”
New studies are underway to understand how these environmental exposures contribute to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases, both in people with a family history of the disease and those without one.