As France’s vote on extending the authorization of glyphosate approaches, the France Parkinson association is calling for the “precautionary principle”.
- The French State must decide tomorrow, Thursday, November 16, on the extension of authorization of glyphosate proposed by the European Commission for a period of 10 years.
- The France Parkinson association calls on the French state to vote against.
- In 2012, France was the first country to recognize Parkinson’s disease as an occupational disease for farmers and wine growers exposed to pesticides.
While the French State must decide tomorrow, Thursday, November 16, on the extension of the authorization of glyphosate proposed by the European Commission for a period of 10 years, the France Parkinson association calls on the French state to vote against by warning about the presumptions weighing on this herbicide and its supposed responsibility in Parkinson’s disease.
Glyphosate and Parkinson’s disease: a “biologically plausible” correlation
As reaffirmed by Bas Bloem and Tjitske Boonstra, respectively professor of neurology and researcher in neurology in the Netherlands, in an article published in lemonde.fr from last October 12: “There is now a body of scientific evidence indicating that glyphosate is a possible cause of Parkinson’s… A recent study showed that exposure to glyphosate was associated with signs of brain damage, measured by a blood marker (“the light chain neurofilament”) in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, among others.”
“If further studies remain necessary to add the glyphosate molecule to the already long list of pesticides incriminated in Parkinson’s disease, the simple fact that this correlation appears to be “biologically plausible” must encourage our government to apply the precautionary principle and to shed light on the existence of this link”, continues the patient association.
“Studies must be carried out on glyphosate and Parkinson’s disease”
For his part, epidemiologist Alexis Elbaz, director of studies which demonstrated a higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in agricultural and wine-growing areas, joins Bas Bloem in regretting that the evaluation of neurotoxicity in the approval protocols of the glyphosate is carried out in a scientifically inadequate framework.
“An extension of authorization for just one year would make it possible to carry out the necessary studies on glyphosate before recommitting “blindly” for a decade! This year of renewal would also make it possible to work on the development alternatives to glyphosate for our agriculture”, finishes France Parkinson.
Parkinson’s disease in numbers
In 2012, France was the first country to recognize Parkinson’s disease as an occupational disease for farmers and wine growers exposed to pesticides.
With 272,500 patients currently identified, 1 in 50 French people will be affected by Parkinson’s disease during their lifetime. The prevalence of this pathology is constantly increasing in our country, which has 2.5 times more patients than in 1990. “This phenomenon is essentially due to the aging of the population and probably to hormonal or environmental factors whose exact impact on the disease is not yet known,” concludes Jean-Louis Dufloux, president of the France Parkinson association.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with no cure.
