The link between pesticides and illness of Parkinson’s has already been established by several scientific studies. Since 2013, Parkinson’s has also been recognized as an occupational disease among farmers, a population highly exposed to these chemicals. Today a new studypublished in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin, confirms the previous results, but also links pesticides to an increased risk of Parkinson’s in residents living near agricultural areas.
The wine-growing areas most at risk
In France, 90% of plant protection products (fungicides, herbicides and pesticides) are dedicated to agriculture. In order to provide more documentation on the links between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease, the experts analyzed and compared data from people affiliated to the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) and to other health insurance schemes, between 2010 and 2012.
The results show that there is a 13% increased risk of declaring Parkinson’s disease in Farmers compared to people affiliated to other health plans. It was the winegrowers who were the most affected, as this activity consumes a lot of pesticides. There is also a 10% increased risk of developing the disease in people living in a wine-growing area. “These results suggest that environmental exposure to pesticides may be associated with Parkinson’s disease and that the number of cases attributable to pesticides may be higher than if occupational exposure alone were implicated,” the study concludes.
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