--I suspect that, given the cornucopia of chemicals we are all now exposed to regularly, and how little is known about some of them and their interactions, there are more neuropathies that have a toxic origin than is generally believed.

Some toxic neuropathies are well-documented, and a number of these come from studies of workplace exposure, such as to mercury (think of the phrase "mad as a hatter"--mercury poisoning was observed earliest among haberdashery workers). But there are probably a lot of toxic neuropathies we don't suspect and which would be very difficult to test for.

One small hope of expanding this knowledge, ironically, lies in the studies of toxic exposures that happened during the incidents of 9/11--the follow-up over time has revealed a lot people with neurotoxic symptoms, both peripheral and central. Echoes Long Ago on these boards is very knowledgeable about this, as he suspects, as a first responder, this is how his neuropathy developed, and he has been a very strong advocate in the suits and court processes to get neuropathy recognized as an effect of the exposures there.