Pesticides and Parkinson’s disease

It seems like lately there have been numerous articles about the possible connection of pesticides and Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, there have been numerous articles on the role that genetics plays with respect to Parkinson’s disease. My husband is always saying that I have a “why” personality. What he means is that I do not just want to know that I have a diagnosis of PD, but I also want to know why I have PD. This “why” personality does not just pertain to PD, but it applies to any circumstance that occurs in my life. I have always wanted to know why something happens, or the nexus of why something occurs. It is often difficult for me to accept that no reason exists for something that occurs in life.

Keeping all of this in mind, I started recounting my years as a child. I tried to recall if there were any circumstances that could have occurred that may have been part of the reason that I developed PD. I thought I would look at the pesticide issue first, because the genetic portion is much more in depth.

As a child, I do recall that we spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle and another aunt and uncle who lived in a community which had a potential problem with the drinking water. In fact, whenever we stayed or visited with either family, we always drank bottled water. Later, both families would eventually be part of a class action lawsuit and receive a monetary judgment as a result of the lawsuit. There was definitely contamination of the water due to a biohazard dumpsite.

Because we spent a great deal of time with both families, I began to wonder if drinking the bottled water was enough to insure that potential harm did not occur as a result of the tainted water. There were many times that I spent the night or even longer with one of the families. My cousins and I would run through the sprinklers or sit in a children’s pool that was filled with this water. We showered or bathed with this water. Could this tainted water, which did include pesticides, have gotten into my system and had an impact? It is a very interesting question, which I am uncertain there is an answer for. Additionally, I have never cared much for bottled water, so I know there were times that I did drink the tap water. It did not taste funny as I recall. I also do not recall how often I might have drunk from the tap despite the warnings from my aunts and uncles.

We used to have many pets when I was a child. When you have multiple pets, the likelihood of fleas is high. As adults we would recount with laughter how our house became so infested with fleas one year, that you could actually see the fleas jumping out of the carpet or couch as we sat on the couch watching television. After my dad had a nightmare that fleas were biting his ears, resulting in him falling out of bed onto the floor in the middle of the night, my dad took measures to “get rid of the fleas”. We were allowed to keep one dog and two cats. The rest of the animals were given away to various friends.

Reducing the number of pets in our household was only the first measure that was taken to rid the house of fleas. The final measure that my dad took was to spray a commercial grade pesticide throughout the house. I do not know what chemical was used, but it did take care of the flea infestation. I do recall that this chemical was sprayed on all of the carpeting, couches, and our beds. Anything that was made of fabric was sprayed, almost to the point of saturation. I also believe that he re-sprayed everything a few weeks later, just to be sure that there were absolutely no more fleas.

Thinking about it now, maybe the funny events surrounding the flea infestation were not as funny as we once believed. I now wonder if this type of direct and abundant use of a pesticide inside of our house could have been another contributing factor. Additionally, I was very much a tomboy as a child, so it was very common for me to roll around on grass during games of tackle football with the neighborhood kids. It is difficult to say what types of pesticides that neighbors may have used in their yards or the city may have used in the park across the street from our house.

Although exposure to pesticides may in fact contribute to the future development of PD, I tend to believe that a person may need to be predisposed genetically for this to occur. I believe that if PD had only once source or reason for its development, then we would already have far more answers than we do now and be closer to a cure.

I have done some very extensive research into various genes that are supposedly connected to the development of Parkinson’s disease as well as other various conditions. If I am interpreting this information correctly, then Parkinson’s disease may have types that are purely genetic, but may also have types that are a combination of genetics and outside environmental factors.

In my next post I will write about the genetic research I did as it relates to various conditions in my family’s history. I found some very interesting parallels between family history and Parkinson’s disease. I would find it additionally interesting to see if other people find similar parallels within their own family history, especially those of us who appear to be the first member of a family to be diagnosed with PD. This particular post will be difficult to write, because of the scientific nature of the subject. God willing, I will be able to explain the research I did in an easy to understand format.