Pesticide May Be Linked to Parkinson’s

New research using rats suggests that long-term exposure to a widely used pesticide kills brain cells and triggers debilitating physical symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Scientists say the experiment’s results strongly indicate what scientists have suspected for several years--that the most common form of Parkinson’s might result from toxins in the environment.

The study, published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience, does not prove that the pesticide used in the test, rotenone, causes Parkinson’s in humans.

But scientists who reviewed the experiment said the results are powerful and should reinvigorate the search for environmental toxins that may contribute to Parkinson’s. More than 1 million Americans have the disease.

“This is more evidence that a class of compounds may increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s,” said J. William Langston, director of the Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, Calif., who was not involved in the study. “It is not direct evidence that rotenone causes Parkinson’s. The whole puzzle hasn’t come together.”