Pesticide Link to Parkinson’s Disease?

A research team at the University of Rochester has found that acombination of two commonly-used pesticides produces symptoms ofParkinson’s disease in mice. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s BudLowell has more:

Transcript

A research team at the University of Rochester has found that a
combination of two commonly-used pesticides produces symptoms of
Parkinson’s disease in mice. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bud Lowell has more.


Maneb is a fungicide and Paraquat a herbicide — both widely used in
agriculture. A federally-funded research project at the University of Rochester
Medical School has found that exposure to both chemicals together may have
unintended results.


Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta has found that mice exposed to both
Paraquat and Maneb have something in common with humans suffering from
Parkinson’s disease.


“They have motor deficits — deficits in their motor behavior. And they
basically have damage — selective damage, even — to the same
neurotransmitter systems, the dopamine systems — that are damaged in
humans.”


Cory-Slechta says it’s too big a jump to say Paraquat and Maneb cause
Parkinson’s disease in humans. She says there are probably a range of
factors, some of them genetic.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bud Lowell.