The Tragic Link Between Paraquat And Parkinsons Disease And Torhoerman Laws Quest For Justice
EDWARDSVILLE, IL / ACCESSWIRE / December 31, 2020 / Paraquat is putting farmers and farming communities across the nation in danger. The herbicide has been directly linked to Parkinsons disease and has already been banned in many countries, including China, Brazil, and the EU. This begs the question of why farmers in all 50 states are still able to utilize the dangerous chemical. TorHoerman Law is on a mission to bring awareness to this dangerous chemical, the risks involved, and the legal options available to those who suffer from Parkinsons linked to Paraquat exposure.
Paraquat is a chemical agent used primarily as an herbicide in no-till farming. Its most commonly used as a spray, being a less labor-intensive alternative to discing/standard tilling farming. As more weeds become resistant to RoundUp, Paraquats popularity in farming continues to grow across the US. In 2017, the last year in which data is available, use was estimated to be almost 10 million pounds annually in the United States.
The dangers of ingesting the chemical are fairly well-known, as a dose of just 2.5 grams is lethal. For this reason, it has been the cause of death in multiple suicides and accidental deaths. The immediate effects of Paraquat are deadly, but the lasting effects of Paraquat exposure may pose an even more sinister threat to farmers, pesticide applicators, tank fillers/mixers, and the families living in and around farming communities.
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Researchers Think These Factors May Be Linked To Parkinsons
Dorsey and others called for a shift in current funding for biomedical research from treatment to prevention, and for further advocacy. The new policies should seek to reduce the prevalence of chemical exposure, among other goals, and mimic the efforts of smoking prevention campaigns, which have led to a steep drop in lung cancer.
If we care, we can prevent millions of people from ever developing these debilitating and deadly diseases, Dorsey said. If we educate the communities were supposed to serve, we can have them be mobilized and change the course of all these diseases.
Its a daunting task, said Walter J. Koroshetz, MD, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and co-moderator of the symposium, but I think its time to start now.
He said the institute has launched an office for exposome research, which will be conducted in close collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
These cumulative exposures are an existential threat in our modern environment, and we as neurologists and neuroscientist must focus our attention on this under-recognized and growing issue, said Frances E. Jensen, MD, president of the American Neurological Association, and chair of the symposium.
Lawsuits Allege Parkinsons Disease Caused By Chemical Exposure
The emerging evidence showing that exposure to certain chemicals can lead to Parkinsons disease is at the center of 2 major class action lawsuits that are currently ongoing.
Camp Lejeune Parkinsons Disease Lawsuits
Camp Lejeune is a military base in North Carolina. For decades, the water supply at Lejeune was contaminated with TCE and other solvents. Public health studies were done to examine the impact that this contaminated water had on the health of Lejeune residents and employees.
In 2017, the Veterans Administration identified a list of diseases and health conditions that could be presumptively linked to the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. One of the presumptive Camp Lejeune diseases on this list was Parkinsons disease.
In August 2022, Congress passed a new law that gave victims of the Camp Lejeune water contamination the ability to bring civil lawsuits and seek compensation for their injuries. Thousands of former Camp Lejeune residents and employees who were subsequently diagnosed with Parkinsons disease are now bringing Camp Lejeune Parkinsons disease lawsuits under the new law. Since Parkinsons was one of the diseases that the VA listed as presumptively connected to Camp Lejeune, causation in these cases will be simple to prove.
Paraquat Parkinsons Disease Lawsuits
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What Makes Paraquat Dichloride So Efficient
In a nutshell, paraquat is a highly toxic chemical that is commonly used as a weed killer and for general grass control. Paraquat was first introduced to the general population in 1961, and since then, it became a widely used herbicide throughout the United States and the world.
Paraquat is still used because its one of the most effective and cheapest herbicides on the market today. Agriculture and farmworkers use it systematically on their land after harvest to destroy any green leftovers. The herbicide kills weeds by stopping photosynthesis. If a plant cannot go through the photosynthesis process then it will not be able to synthesize the nutrients and will wither.
Another reason why paraquat is so extensively used is because its quick to apply and it rids farmers of extra tilling work and because weeds have developed resistance to other widely used chemicals such as glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup. While at first paraquat could have been used by anyone, today you need a license from the Environmental Protection Agency to use the chemical, which means its only available for industrial use.
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No One Definitive Cause Of Parkinsons
There are no biomarkers or objective screening tests that indicate one has Parkinsons. That said, medical experts have shown that a constellation of factors are linked to it.
Parkinsons causes are likely a blend of genetics and environmental or other unknown factors. About 10 to 20 percent of Parkinsons disease cases are linked to a genetic cause, says Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins. The types are either autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive .
But that leaves the majority of Parkinsons cases as idiopathic, which means unknown. We think its probably a combination of environmental exposure to toxins or pesticides and your genetic makeup, says Dawson.
Age. The biggest risk factor for developing Parkinsons is advancing age. The average age of onset is 60.
Gender. Men are more likely to develop Parkinsons disease than women.
Genetics. Individuals with a parent or sibling who is affected have approximately two times the chance of developing Parkinsons. Theres been an enormous amount of new information about genetics and new genes identified over the past 10 or 15 years that have opened up a greater understanding of the disease, says Dawson.
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Exposure To Pesticides In The Military
Agent Orange was an herbicide that US troops sprayed in Vietnam from 1961-1971 to kill trees and crops that provided protection and food to the rival army. It is a mixture of two chemicals: 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Agent Orange was also contaminated with Dioxin, a chemical even more damaging than Agent Orange itself, since it is very long-lasting.
The effects of Agent Orange on both the Vietnamese population and on American soldiers has been studied extensively, but with much variability in the results. Birth defects have been attributed to Agent Orange exposure, as well as multiple types of cancer.
With the understanding that the Veteran community served selflessly on behalf of the American people and therefore deserve the protection and support of the American government, the Agent Orange Act was passed in 1991, allowing the Department of Veteran Affairs to declare certain conditions presumptive to exposure to Agent Orange, even if the scientific data associating Agent Orange with that condition was not airtight.
The list of conditions has grown over the years, and in 2010, PD was added. Read here about how veterans who may have been exposed to Agent Orange and have subsequently developed PD are eligible for VA healthcare and disability compensation. APDA offers a free booklet specifically for veterans to help them find the care and support they need.
The Neurotoxic Herbicide Paraquat
The potent herbicide paraquat is another prototypic toxin known to exert deleterious effects through oxidative stress. Indeed, as reviewed elsewhere, paraquat toxicity is mediated by redox cycling with cellular diaphorase such as nitric oxide synthase, yielding ROS. As detailed, the actual reduction-oxidation cycling reaction of paraquat can thus be depicted in . Thus far, there have been several cases of lethal poisoning resulting from ingestion or dermal exposure. For many years, experimental studies using paraquat were focusing on its effects on lung, liver, and kidney probably because the toxicity induced by this herbicide in these organs is responsible for death after acute exposure. However, significant damage to the brain is seen in individuals who died from paraquat intoxication, despite the fact that paraquat poorly crosses the BBB spontaneously. Furthermore, epidemiological studies have suggested an increased risk for PD due to paraquat exposure, raising the possibility that paraquat could be an environmental parkinsonian toxin. In keeping with this, it is relevant to point out that paraquat exhibits a striking structural similarity to MPTP toxic metabolite 1-methyl-4-pheylpyridinium .
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Which Pesticides Increase Risk
Pesticides are a broad group of chemicals that are structurally and functionally diverse, they have different actions and potential toxicities. As such, the broad brush approach of previous research which looked for the association between Parkinsons and a variety of chemicals used in agriculture often fails to identify individual chemicals which increase risk.
The chemical with the strongest association is the herbicide paraquat, which has been reported to cause a 2.5 fold increase in the odds of getting Parkinsons. And in the lab, when combined with a chemical fungicide, called maneb, researchers have discovered that exposure may active a toxic inflammatory response, lead to the formation of damaging types alpha-synuclein protein, and cause the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells.
But caution should be taken before suggesting that paraquat can cause Parkinsons directly as a more recent meta-analysis states that the evidence so far cannot fully support a causal link between this chemical and Parkinsons.
Despite this, many countries and the whole of the EU have already banned paraquat, but not for its connection to Parkinsons. The chemical is acutely toxic when inhaled or comes into contact with the skin. In other countries, where it has not been banned, restrictive use measures have been established such as limiting its concentration in formulated products and only allowing licensed mixers and ground applicators to manipulate it.
Environmental Causes Of Parkinsons Disease
The latest scientific research on the causes of Parkinsons disease indicates that long-term environmental exposure to certain chemicals may actually be a primary contributing factor. Environmental exposure works in combination with genetics as there are certain people who are genetically predisposed to develop PD from exposure to toxic chemicals in their environment.
Ongoing research on the link between chemical exposure and Parkinsons disease has begun to definitively identify a handful of specific chemicals that appear to be associated with PD. The two chemicals with the strongest evidence of a causal link to Parkinsons are chlorinated solvents, and pesticides and herbicides.
Chlorinated Solvents and Parkinsons Disease
There is strong evidence showing that prolonged exposure to chemicals known as chlorinated solvents can lead to PD. The most common type of chlorinated solvent linked to Parkinsons is trichloroethylene . TCE is a chemical solvent that is widely used by many different industries. TCE is used in commercial dry cleaning, and it is a common metal cleaner and solvent used on heavy machinery.
Pesticides and Herbicides Cause Parkinsons Disease
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Do Chemicals Cause Parkinsons Disease
Short answer: The best available scientific evidence suggests that a few chemicals, including some pesticides, increase risk of Parkinsons disease, but only a small fraction of cases are believed to be caused by any sort of environmental exposure.
Longer answer: The first chemical demonstrated to cause Parkinsons disease is MPTP, as discussed here and in the fascinating book, The Case of the Frozen Addicts. MPTP, or more precisely its metabolite MPP+, is an exceptionally potent toxin that selectively kills dopaminergic neurons by poisoning their mitochondria. This is not a case of slightly increased risk it quickly and irreversibly causes symptoms essentially indistinguishable from idiopathic Parkinsons disease.
MPTP
MPP+
It is highly unlikely that you will come in contact with these molecules at the present time. Rather alarmingly, however, in the 1970s, MPP+ was apparently developed, and field tested, as a herbicide under the name Cyperquat, by Gulf Oil Chemicals Company .
Of much greater concern are widely used pesticides, which have been demonstrated to increase risk of Parkinsons disease with varying strengths of evidence. Some of the strongest evidence is for rotenone, thousands of tons of which have been used to kill unwanted fish and various agricultural pests it has even been used to kill head lice on humans.
Rotenone
Another pesticide worth highlighting is paraquat, due to its chemical similarity to MPP+.
Paraquat
What Causes Parkinsons Disease
The exact cause of Parkinsons disease is not fully understood. Most scientists currently believe that PD is triggered by a complex combination of genetics and/or environmental factors. For a long time, genetics was believed to be the more significant factor. However, recent research has found that only around 15% of Parkinsons disease cases can be definitively linked back to genetics.
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Specific Pesticides And Their Link To Pd
The evidence that pesticide use is associated with an increased risk in PD, begs the question are there specific pesticides that are most concerning? When data is collected on this topic in large populations, often the participants in the study are unaware of which specific pesticide exposures they have had. This makes it difficult to determine which pesticides to avoid.
Some studies however were able to investigate the risks of specific chemicals. A recent review summarized the current state of knowledge on this topic. The chemical with the most data linking it to an increased PD risk is paraquat, with exposure associated with a 2-3 fold increased PD risk over the general population.
One particularly comprehensive study investigated exposure to 31 pesticides and their association with PD risk. From that data emerged paraquat and rotenone as the two most concerning pesticides.
- Paraquats mechanism of action is the production of reactive oxygen species, intracellular molecules that cause oxidative stress and damage cells.
- Rotenones mechanism of action is disruption of the mitochondria, the component of the cell that creates energy for cell survival.
Interestingly, both mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are common themes in our general understanding of what causes death of nerve cells in PD.
Talk With Others Who Understand
On MyParkinsonsTeam, the social network for people with Parkinsons and their loved ones, more than 81,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with Parkinsons.
Are you living with Parkinsons disease and have you had high exposure to pesticides in the past? Share your experience in the comments below, or start a conversation by posting on your Activities page.
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Paraquat Linked To Parkinsons
A 2013 study from UCLA confirmed that exposure to the herbicide Paraquat is linked with a heightened risk of Parkinsons disease. This combines with other research finding that herbicides and pesticides increase the risk of Parkinsons.
The researchers, from UCLAs Fielding School of Public Health, studied 357 Parkinsons disease cases along with 754 control subjects adults from Central California. The researchers determined increased exposure to the herbicide Paraquat through geographic mapping of their home addresses, together with agricultural use of the chemical on nearby farms. The research found that those living closer to farms that sprayed the herbicide were found to have a 36% increased risk of Parkinsons.
However, those who experienced a head injury combined with increased Paraquat exposure tripled their chances of having Parkinsons disease.
Researchers from Mexicos Unidad de Medicina Familiar also studied cases of Parkinsons together with exposure to the herbicide Paraquat among Mexican workers. They also found a positive association between exposure to this chemical and Parkinsons disease.
Paraquat is N,N-dimethyl-4,4-bipyridinium dichloride.
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U Of G Study Uncovers Cause Of Pesticide Exposure Parkinsons Link
A new University of Guelph study has discovered why exposure to pesticides increases some peoples risk of developing Parkinsons disease.
Previous studies have found an association between two commonly used agrochemicals and Parkinsons disease.
Now U of G professor Scott Ryan has determined that low-level exposure to the pesticides disrupts cells in a way that mimics the effects of mutations known to cause Parkinsons disease.
The study made national and international headlines appearing on CTV News and the Daily Mail.
Adding the effects of the chemicals to a predisposition for Parkinsons disease drastically increases the risk of disease onset, said Ryan.
People exposed to these chemicals are at about a 250-per-cent higher risk of developing Parkinsons disease than the rest of the population, said Ryan, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
We wanted to investigate what is happening in this susceptible population that results in some people developing the disease.
Used on a variety of Canadian crops, paraquat is used on crops as they grow, and maneb prevents post-harvest spoiling.
Until now, the link between pesticides and Parkinsons disease was based primarily on animal studies as well as epidemiological research that demonstrated an increased risk among farmers and others exposed to agricultural chemicals, said Ryan. We are one of the first to investigate what is happening inside human cells.
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Research On The Effects Of Pesticides On Human Brain Cells In The Lab Has Recently Appeared In The News We Go Behind The Headlines And Find Out What Is Known About The Link Between These Chemicals And Parkinsons
The causes of Parkinsons are complex and not fully understood. For the vast majority of people with the condition, multiple factors will have played a role and, as such, pinpointing a single cause is not possible.
However, understanding the factors that both increase and risk of Parkinsons is of interest, particularly to researchers who may be able to use the insight to develop new and better treatments, or help to reduce the risk for future generations. You can read more about this in a previous post:
When it comes to pesticides, we have known about the association between certain types of pesticide and an increase in risk of Parkinsons for a while. In fact it was back in the 1980s when scientists first became suspicious of one pesticide called paraquat.
Paraquat has a structure similar to a chemical called MPTP. But it wasnt until the 1980s that it was discovered just how damaging the MPTP is for the dopamine producing brain cells of the substantia nigra.
The discovery came about by accident when a botched batch of synthetic heroin containing the chemical caused Parkinsons-like symptoms almost overnight in users in Northern California. With the similarities in the chemical structure, researchers then turned their attention to what exposure to pesticides may be doing to the brain.