Greg, I started reading everything I could find concerning Parkinson's disease in 1996. That was 3 years before I got my first computer. Since that time I have read probably over a thousand abstracts concernig Pd research, and I have formulated my opinion. Believe it or not, my opinion addresses every one of your questions and then some.

Two important things happened in the 1940's that would prove to greatly impact our diet and our health. Those two things were: 1)stockpiles of certain chemicals at the end of world war 2 and a move toward using additives in massive amounts to enhance agricultural soils and 2) the beginning of the acceptance of fast foods as a major part of our diet.

Resulting from these two actions were and are several other cascades of ongoing, progressive changes: 1)a slow decline in the vitamin/mineral content of agricultural soils. 2) a corresponding weakening of the immune systems of our crops leading to the need to use more and stronger pesticides and herbicides, leading to the manufacture of more potent synthetics.(use more-need more, use more-need more). 3) To a great degree, our present-day diet does not provide enough live enzymes or pro-biotics to sufficiently support our digestive systems. Even if we were capable of pulling every nutritious molecule out of the fast, overcooked, practically nutrient-stripped food that we eat, it would not be enough. Animal model studies indicate that this type of diet will eventually lead to sterility somewhere between the 7th and 10th generation. Illness is eminent.

Due to the depletion of vital nutrients being received by the plants, there was and is a corresponding depletion of vital nutrients reaching us, and a corresponding generational weakening of the human immune system has been and is ocurring. We, in turn, are also adding more and more chemicals to our bodies in the form of pharmaceuticals and synthetic vitamins, preservatives, artificial scents, etc. (use more-need more, use more-need more).

Each successive generation suffers more and more structural abuse due to the insufficient and sub-standard building blocks of our physical being ( I won't take time here to name the many vital nutrients). We are becoming houses built of straw instead of bricks, so to speak.

At the same time, insult has been added to injury by the bombardment of our bodies with man-made chemicals which our already weakened immune system cannot deal with or identify. The body attempts to eliminate what cannot be metabolized or further broken down and prepared for use by and for the body's billions of hungry and thirsty cells, but it is not always successful in its attempt. That which remains is stored or roams around inside of us looking for another substance to 'hook up' with ( a marriage and quick divorce so to speak). The damage is done, and the molecular molester moves on to destroy again. It might mimic an enzyme or break up an already existing union or cause damage or death some other invasive way( this is where i would discuss mitochondrial mahem, or respiratory interference, or energy drain or neurotransmitter displacement or some such event that would eventually lead to an untimely death of our cells).

As more and more cells die and more and more energetic pathways are blocked, and energy transfers are denied, corresponding mechanisms and interchanges are adversely affected. The cascade continues.

Vital checks and balances are no longer in play, and therefore certain lines of communications are no longer open or incorrect information is being received. The quantitative matrix that regulates and coordinates supply and demand is no longer coded properly ( we could discuss DNA and severed RNA, and genetic breakdown or mutation here).

Dis-ease begins to show up in our bodies in the form of symptoms that we group together and define as disease. Some have a group of symptoms that we have named ALS or MS or PD or PKU or PSP or MSA or some other grouping of convenient letters. Our symptoms are categorized, and we become a statistic.

In the meantime, back on the farm, we have allowed our chemicals to be washed from the farm and into the wild where the same scenario will occur among the populus of other species of plants and animals.

The web of life begins to unravel. Biodiversity is slowly destroyed ( several hundred species per year now)

This becomes our children's inheritance, and so the next generation adds to the injury, more insult.

Do you think we will become wise before we die, or do you think we will ignore the truth forever? To say we can do nothing is really to say,"WE CHOOSE TO DO NOTHING."

I have found 4 classes of chemicals, identified by their mode of action, which can cause Parkinson's symptoms. Each class affects a different area of our cellular makeup. This explains why we are symptomatically different and why we do not necessarily respond to the same therapy. Also, each of us who have Pd due to neurotoxicity, probably absorbed different amounts of the chemical. Those who absorbed the most would probably progress the fastest and those who absorbed the least would progress most slowly.

Therefore, I believe that each of us must identify our toxin and take measures toward removing it (them) from our body. Then we must provide our body with a proper diet that includes clean air, clean water, stress free surroundings, and we must exercise. The body should take care of the rest.

That's my opinion.

michael b.