Nervous System Effects
Brain Inflammation
Inhaled Pollutants May Inflame More Than the Lungs
Scientists have known that air pollution can impair airways and blood vessels. The emerging surprise is what it might do to the brain. Increasingly, studies have been highlighting inflammation-provoking nanopollutants as a potential source of nerve cell damage. PAULE's NOTE: Research into Multiple Chemical Sensitivities has long indicated that pollutants crossed the blood-brain barrier. It has also shown through SPECT and other brain that areas of the brain can shut down upon exposure to substances one is sensitive to. i..e., blood circulations would be shut down or reduced for hours at a time. Research in nano-particles has recently shown that they are small enough to enter cells. In the meantime, other research indicated that it's not only the size of a particle that is important but also what it is. Pesticide applications often produce very small particles in the nano-particle range. Nothing surprising for those of us who have MCS and have been following the research. I am however horrified to see these measurable effects widespread to all children exposed to polluted air.
Full article: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/58906/title/Destination_brain.
Agent Orange Tied to Parkinson’s in Vietnam Vets (July 2009)
Gene Variants and Pesticide Exposure Increase Risk of Parkinson’s Disease (Beyond Pesticides, January 11, 2010) The findings show that study participants with two copies of gene variant have a significantly increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease when exposed to certain organophosphate pesticides used in agriculture...Individuals with the variant MM PONI1-55 genotype that are exposed to organophosphates exhibit more than twice the risk of Parkinson’s disease compared to carriers of wildtype or heterozygous genotype and no exposure. ( diazinon, chlorpyrifos)
New evidence linking pesticides, genes & Parkinson's
(PanUps May14,2009) "Exposure to commonly used agricultural pesticides may increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, particularly among people who have certain gene types," reports Environmental Health News. Summarizing the new research, EHN notes: "The degenerative nerve disease can develop when dopamine levels in the brain are lower than normal. Without pesticide exposures, susceptible gene variants alone were not sufficient to increase risk. The increased risk to Parkinson's required both susceptible genes and pesticide exposure." The full article (PDF) is available from Environmental Health Perspectives.
Residential Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Increases Risk to Parkinson’s Disease. (Beyond Pesticides, March 16, 2009) Posted in California, Maneb, Paraquat, Parkinson's :exposure to both pesticides within 500 meters of an individual’s home increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s by 75 percent. For individuals 60 years of age or younger at the time of diagnosis, there is a more than four-fold increase in risk of the disease when exposed to a combination of maneb and paraquat
Pesticides Trigger Parkinson Disease by Kagan Owens. (Pesticides and You. Vol 28, no 1, Spring 2008. Beyond Pesticides) Many types of insectides are toxic to the nervous system.The better-known classes such as the oganochlorines (OCs e.g. endosulfan), organophosphates (OPs: e.g.malathion, chlorpyrifos), the carbamates (e.g. carbofuran), synthetic pyrethroids (e.g. permethrin, resmethrin). some herbicides such as 2.4-D are also toxic to the nervous system. This article has a list of specific pesticides linked to Parkinson Disease.
MS and ALS
Others
October 24, 2008 Pesticides may damage brain sources: Globe and Mail, PANNA
Children are especially at risk. Pesticides that could be damaging included organophosphates (OPs), carbamates, pyrethroids, ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and chlorophenoxy herbicides (such as 2,4-D, mecoprop and dicamba commonly used on lawns)
July 2006 Pesticide Exposure Damages Nervous System, Brain and gastro-intestinal tract .