Parkinson's disease is the fastest growing neurological disease in the world, and scientists are working to understand why.

A growing body of research shows long term exposure to certain pesticides and herbicides correlates to an increased risk of Parkinson's.

Our Christine spoke to her neurologist about what the research shows and some early warning signs of the disease.

More about this and today's medical news.

Doctor Justin Phillips from Norton Neuroscience Institute is here with us.

Thanks for being with us.

My pleasure.

What does the current medical research tell us about the link between Parkinson's disease and pesticide use?

So more and more of the literature suggests that there's a clear link between pesticide exposure and the development of Parkinson's disease.

In 2024, the New England Journal of Medicine actually invited a review to kind of look at these facts, and it showed as much as a 40% increase in Parkinson's risk for certain pesticides that are in use and are being phased out.

Okay.

What are the certain chemicals that, from pesticides, herbicides that Kentuckians might encounter.

So they're probably the biggest culprit.

The highest risk is an herbicide called paraquat.

The EPA is currently reviewing that, but it's still in use in a number of places, at the commercial level.

And we also know that a slightly lesser risk, but but still a reasonable risk is a chemical called 24D, which can really be purchased, at your local store to use in your own home lawn.

Really like a major retail outlet.

Walmart, Lowe's.

You know, many of those Home Depot.

Okay.

A lot of the weed killers that you might buy and the little pumpkin may contain the chemical.

Okay.

Where do we find that chemical?

On the packaging?

So they should have listed on there what the, you know, active ingredients in that are.

And so that would be one that you may want to look for and avoid.

Okay.

What does it do to the brain.

So depending on which chemical it is it can do a number of things to the brain.

It can cause inflammation oxidative stress.

And commonly these things are implicated in mitochondrial dysfunction which has a specific risk towards Parkinson's because of how it affects the dopaminergic neurons in the brain.

Okay.

Who is most at risk for developing, Parkinson's from this risk of pesticide use?

So there's definitely a link between the amount of exposure you have as well.

And so if you think about the amount of exposure, you might have someone who's working with these chemicals on a daily basis, or maybe someone who lives in the vicinity of a place where these chemicals are used regularly.

The higher your exposure, the higher your risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

So somebody who lives in a vicinity of give some examples.

So if you live next to a large farm, that may use the commercial, you know, the paraquat, and these things can also potentially leach into groundwater.

And so it may affect, you know, for instance, if you grew up on a farm, we know being exposed to or using well water is an increased risk.

So these may be ways that patients or the patients that have been exposed to that, as well as just people who maybe work on farms and actually, you know, using these types of things on the farms themselves.

Okay.

So what sort of symptoms might give us a clue that there is some damage from pesticides, some neurological damage.

Or specific to Parkinson's disease?

We diagnose it based on motor symptoms.

These are things like slowness of movement or difficulty initiating movement called braided kanisha rigidity, or a type of muscle stiffness and tremor.

But we know that patients with Parkinson's disease may have pre motor symptoms that may be present a decade or more before.

And things like loss of sense of smell, dream enactment behavior.

So when they're having a dream, instead of being, you know, only rapid eye movement, they may act out those dreams and shout and kick and punch and those sorts of things in their sleep.

These can all be evidence of early Parkinson's even before it's diagnosable in a clinic.

Okay.

What is one thing that you wish everybody knew about that link between Parkinson's and pesticides or even early intervention?

So, you know, I think prevention is going to be a key for Parkinson's disease.

As we learn more and more about that.

And so I think being aware of the risks and benefits of those exposures, you know, we know it's more complex than just saying, well, you shouldn't ever use, you know, herbicides because they're bad for you.

We know that, you know, things like food scarcity are important things that are, you know, Kentuckians as well.

And so but knowing the risks and benefits and the risks to farmers, if we were to ban these things and how we can support them and still support our, you know, our population to prevent things like Parkinson's disease.

Yeah, that's a lot to think about.

Well, Doctor Phillips, thank you so much for being here.

My pleasure.

And thank you, Christy.

There is currently no cure for Parkinson's, but early diagnosis, advances in technology and new treatment options can improve outcomes for some patients.