Toxins may play a role in Parkinson's disease - eg, one twin study shows the environment plays a larger role than genetics

[Guest guest]

{The article's last sentences are downright encouraging. Boosting an

individual's detox capabilities is crucial; reducing environmental

toxins has become necessary; and detox-related therapies ought become

mainstream medicine. A corollary is that we have to move beyond the

old-guard's all-or-nothing reference ranges and move towards adoption of

percentile-based reference ranges that will reflect nutritional-related

impairments of detox and immunity, regardless of whether, in any one

individual, those impairments derive from gastro pathologies and/or weak

alleles. The article hints at the paradigm shift occuring in

Parkinson's, autism, and other medical syndromes too. -}

Toxins may play a role in Parkinson's disease

02:57 PM PST on Wednesday, December 29, 2004

By JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

http://www.king5.com/health/stories/NW_122904HE_KING_parkinsonsenviroSW.5a4381ff\

..html

Recent studies show environmental toxins are one likely cause of

Parkinson's disease. Those toxins include household pesticides like the

weed killer paraquat.

" There are specific pesticides such as paraquat that have been widely

used in the environment that have been shown to induce some of the

changes in the brain of experimental animals that are similar to

Parkinson's. Another one called rotenone reproduces many of the aspects

of Parkinson's disease in laboratory animals, " said Dr. Langston

of The Parkinson's Institute.

Rotenone has been used in more than 6,000 over-the-counter products.

" It's in the roots of plants and has been widely used for centuries to

kill fish in ponds, " said Langston.

Other research shows exposure to heavy metals also raises the risk of

Parkinson's. In one study, workers exposed to lead, copper and iron

together had a greater risk of Parkinson's than when exposed to any

metal alone.

While there's no smoking gun yet, answers are coming. In California, a

bill recently passed to start a Parkinson's disease registry.

" This will allow us to track all of the cases in a geographically

defined area that is California, and I think this will greatly aid our

research for the cause, " said Langston.

With both funding and research plunging ahead, scientists are one step

closer to understanding the environment's role in this devastating disease.

One study of 14,000 pairs of twins shows the environment plays a larger

role than genetics in determining who will develop Parkinson's disease.

*

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