Exposure to toxic substances such as microplastics, pesticides and other toxins could play a role in the development of neurological diseases, American doctors warn.
- Genetics and aging do not fully explain the sharp increase in once-rare diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) according to the American Neurological Association.
- The total number of people who have died from neurological disorders over the past three decades has increased by 61% (from 5.5 million in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2019) according to the American Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. (IHME).
The astronomical increase the number of cases of neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease caused by exposure to environmental toxins?
This is indeed what eminent American doctors maintain, gathered for the annual meeting of theAmerican Neurological Association (ANA) in Chicago which runs from this weekend until Wednesday. However, this issue is not addressed as it should be.
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s: gaps in research on the impact of chemicals
Indeed, according to them, there is a scientific gap in understanding the role that these environmental toxins – air pollution, pesticides, microplastics and chemicals in general – play in increasingly common diseases that affect the brain such as dementia. but also developmental disorders in children.
Indeed, it is the whole branch of medicine that focuses on disorders of the nervous system – the brain, spinal cord and sensory neural elements like the ears, eyes and skin that should be the subject of more research according to experts. “Neurology is about 15 years behind cancer. So we need to sound the alarm and get more people to do research, because the EPA [Agence de protection de l’environnement] does not protect us at all“said Frances Jensen, president of the ANA and chair of the department of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania in an article from the Guardian.
The newspaper, committed to this cause, notably reports on corporate efforts to influence the EPA and cover up a possible link between Paraquat, a popular weedkiller, and Parkinson’s disease.
Exposure to ubiquitous chemical substances: still poorly understood risks
According to scientists from theAmerican Neurologic Association, human beings may encounter more than 80,000 toxic chemicals in the course of their work, play, sleep and learning. And it is almost impossible to determine their individual effects on a person, not to mention their interaction or cumulative effects (“cocktail effect”) on the nervous system.
Moreover, the brain is the most complex and important organ in the body – and probably the most sensitive to environmental toxins, yet it was largely inaccessible to researchers until imaging, genetic and sophisticated molecules have been developed over the past 20 years, say the scientists.
Future research might include why people living in neighborhoods with high levels of air pollution have greater risk of having a stroke and examine the links between the exhibition of the fetus to chemicals and disorders of the neurological development of the child. In fact, while genetics plays a role in people’s susceptibility to the pathological effects of different chemicals, research has shown higher rates of cancer and respiratory disease in communities exposed to environmental pollution, especially children.
