[Stitcher]

Pesticides to blame?

The Bakersfield Californian | Monday, Jan 5 2009 5:11 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Jan 5 2009 5:15 PM
http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/l...ry/654808.html

I read a recent article in The Californian about pesticides being a possible cause of Parkinson's disease.

I was a student at Cal State Bakersfield in the early 1970s, before all the building development sprang up around the college. The university was still surrounded by farmland. On an almost daily basis, crop dusting went on in all the fields and naturally, being so close to the campus, the wind carried the pesticides throughout the school.

A few short years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease by the V.A. and a civilian neurologist. I am now wondering if the pesticide exposure from all those years was the cause of my disease.

I am curious to know if other people afflicted with Parkinson's also had a longtime exposure to these kinds of chemicals. The disease has progressed rapidly in my case. I would welcome other sufferers' input on this subject.

ARLON NEW
Lake Isabella

[olsen]

would ask this individual how he qualifies for VA medical system--ie was he in a branch of the service and what did he do/where did he serve. In addition, Consider following report that would include problem with detoxifying insecticides and PON gene variant

Variations in detoxifying genes linked to Lou Gehrig's disease. Genetic variations in three enzymes that detoxify insecticides and nerve gas agents as well as metabolize cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may be a risk factor for developing sporadic amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), and possibly responsible for a reported twofold increased risk of ALS in Gulf War veterans.

These findings, from a study led Teepu Siddique, M.D., and colleagues
at Northwestern University, open the door to investigating
gene-environment interactions as a cause of ALS and other illnesses and to the development of molecular targets for specific treatments. The study was published in the August 22 online issue (available now) of
the journal Neurology.


In 1993 Siddique and collaborators determined that mutations in a gene known as SOD1 account for 20 percent of familial, or inherited, ALS (2
percent of all cases of ALS). However, the cause of sporadic ALS is still unknown.


In earlier research Siddique and other researchers hypothesized that sporadic ALS is modulated by variations in multiple genes interacting with each other and environmental exposures.


The genes for human paraoxanases (PON 1, PON 2 and PON 3), which are
located on chromosome 7q21.3, code for the production of detoxifying enzymes involved in the metabolism of a variety of drugs, organophosphate insecticides, such as parathion, diazinon and chlorpyrifos, and nerve gas agents such as sarin.


Previous research described a possible twofold increased risk for developing ALS in veterans of the Gulf War, indicating a war-related environmental exposure to organophosphates and sarin in genetically
susceptible individuals as a possible cause.

PON gene cluster variantshave previously been associated with other neurodegenerative andvascular disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease,
coronary artery disease and stroke.


Although the Northwestern DNA study samples were not analyzed for
inclusion of Gulf War veterans, Siddique and co-researchers foundsignificant evidence that gene variations (polymorphisms) on thechromosome region encompassing PON2-PON3 were strongly associated with
sporadic ALS.


"Thus, single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping in the intergenic regions of the PON gene cluster, and replication, gene expression, gene-gene interaction and PON serum/enzymatic studies may help
elucidate the complexity of PON cluster association with ALS," Siddique said.


Siddique hopes to study DNA samples from Gulf War veterans with
increased incidence of sporadic ALS and has applied for their DNA from
the Veterans Administration collection.


http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-vid070506.php