More Evidence of Link Between Parkinson's and Pesticides

The Huffington Post, Posted: February 4, 2010 11:13 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-..._b_449234.html

The evidence that environmental factors play a role in Parkinson's Disease is growing.

The largest-ever epidemiological study of the ailment, published online in the journal Neuroepidemiology and reported yesterday by Yale Environment 360, shows that the incidence of the illness is extremely high in many parts of the Northeast and Midwest.

"These are the two regions of the country most involved in metal processing and agriculture," says Dr. Allison Wright Willis, the paper's lead author and an assistant professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, "and chemicals used in these fields are the strongest potential environmental risk factors for Parkinson's disease that we've identified so far."

I received this on my Google Alert. This is a very significant study - 36 MILLION Medicare patients were studied. That makes it pretty valid. (i got this from here: http://www.onearth.org/node/1859 )

I guess I am going to have to throw my wasp spray away! Is t here any "natural" spray that can be used for household pests (insect repellant - bees and wasps, ants, etc.)?

Someone told me to use Avon's "Skin So Soft" as a mosquito repellant, and it works wonderfully! When I clean windows in the fall and spring, I wipe some Skin So Soft in the windowsills and it keeps gnats and spiders away. It also has a pleasant soft pine smell. (and YES! I can smell it; so it may not be as soft a smell as I think!)

Peggy

Oh, Peggy, you don't want to scare the spiders away...they trap and eat the bad guys.

As for nontoxic approach, you can always look into having the house inspected and treated by professionals who take a less toxic approach; look for someone who practice Integrative Pest Management. I had a yellow jacket hive on the inside of the wall in what is now my son's room. Talk about scary, hundreds of bees flying up from hole in basement wall and up through the floor vent. Consulted the yellow pages and the guy pumped the hive full of diatomacious earth- it looks like flour but is deadly to insects as it cuts through their exoskeleton. Apparently, it can be ordered on the internet, but keep in mind...it looks like flour Who knows what you end up with that route?

I've never found Skin So Soft to work for me. I can vouch for the power of a Vitamin B supplement in scaring away mosquitoes...doesn't seem like it will work, but it is amazing! Takes a while to build it up in your system, but apparently in taking it you end up not smelling so enticing anymore. I have read that Repel Lemon Eucalyptus does the trick in warding off a variety of creepy flying things; it is entirely plant based.

Laura

Laura
I appreciate this. I had never heard of the vitamin B supplement.

Peg