Cells exposed to paraquat and maneb, two pesticides commonly used in agriculture, make a genetic mutation similar to the one that causes Parkinson’s disease.
People exposed to paraquat and maneb, two pesticides commonly used in agriculture, have a 250% higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study published in the journal Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Genetic mutation
“Until now, the link between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease has been based primarily on animal studies and epidemiological research that has shown an increased risk in people exposed to agricultural chemicals,” said Scott Ryan, Senior author of the study. “We are the first to investigate what goes on inside human cells.”
In fact, the professor and his team have established that cells exposed to paraquat and maneb undergo a genetic mutation similar to that which causes Parkinson’s disease, even when the dose of pesticides absorbed by the body is low.
Low-level exposure to #pesticides paraquat & maneb disrupts cells in a way that mimics the effects of mutations known to cause Parkinson’s disease. Via @ScienceDaily https://t.co/rfEFbBs0G8.
– Gary Ruskin (@garyruskin) May 24, 2018
French farmers are thus 10% more likely to contract the disease than the general population. In 2012, Bruno Le Maire – then Minister of Agriculture – officially recognized Parkinson’s disease as an occupational disease *.
25,000 new cases per year
Parkinson’s disease is the neurological disease which increased the most between 1990 and 2015: the number of its victims doubled. At the end of 2015, the number of Parkinson’s patients treated was in the order of 160,000, with around 25,000 new cases per year, according to the latest study by Public Health France. 17% of new cases were under the age of 65. By 2030, the number of Parkinson’s patients will have increased by 56% compared to 2015, with one in 120 people over the age of 45.
The average age of death for patients with Parkinson’s disease is 84 years: more than 90% of deaths occur after 70 years, even if the crude death rate increases rapidly after 65 years. Women and young patients are more likely to die than other patients.
The main causes of death in people with Parkinson’s are falls and the development of dementia, two common complications of neurological disease. Cancers kill much less among this category of patients, who generally do not smoke.
* According to the text, farmers must have been exposed to pesticides for at least 10 years and have felt the first symptoms one year after the end of this exposure for it to be recognized as an occupational disease.
.