OT: Pesticide produces Parkinson's symptoms

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>Pesticide produces Parkinson's symptoms

>

> Pesticide produces Parkinson's symptoms

> By Sandra Blakeslee

> THE NEW YORK TIMES

>

> NEW ORLEANS - An organic pesticide widely used on

>home-grown fruits and vegetables and for killing unwanted fish produces the

>classic symptoms of Parkinson's disease in rats that receive steady amounts

>of the chemical, scientists said yesterday.

>

> While it is much too soon to say that rotenone

>causes or contributes to Parkinson's disease in humans, the scientists said

>the finding was the best evidence thus far that chemicals in the

>environment may be factors in this devastating disease.

>

> Their study, the first to implicate rotenone in

>Parkinson's disease, was described at a workshop here on the neurobiology

>of disease, held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society for

>Neuroscience. The workshop involved work carried out by Dr. Timothy

>Greenamyre and colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta.

>

> Dr. John Q. Trojanowski, an expert on

>neurodegenerative diseases at the University of Pennsylvania School of

>Medicine in Philadelphia and the moderator of the workshop, said the

>findings amounted to " a major breakthrough " in Parkinson's research.

>

> Rotenone is extracted from the dried roots, seeds

>and leaves of various tropical plants, which produce the compound in order

>to ward off insects and other pests.

>

> Rotenone occurs in 680 compounds marketed as

>organic garden pesticides and flea powders, said Dr. Caroline Tanner,

>director of clinical research at the Parkinson's Institute. It is often

>dusted onto roses, tomatoes, pears, apples and African violets, and even on

>household pets.

>

> Because rotenone is naturally occurring, it is

>advertised as being safer than synthetic pesticides, she said.

>

> Rotenone is also widely used in liquid form by

>fishery managers to destroy pest species. The chemical is added to lakes

>and reservoirs, where it kills all the fish by inhibiting their ability to

>use oxygen.

>

> Parkinson's disease is one of the most common

>neurodegenerative diseases, affecting nearly 1 million Americans over the

>age of 50. Patients develop jerky, tremulous movements that get worse with

>time. Eventually they become entirely rigid.

>

> During the exposure, the rats grew stiff, stopped

>moving as much, hunched over and developed tremors - just the kinds of

>problems in Parkinson's.

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>© Arizona Daily Star

 

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