Double risk of getting sick for those who live within 5 km. The pesticides used on the green end up in drinking water
Live near the golf courses involves an increase in the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. These are the results of a recent study conducted by the Mayo Clinic and published in the magazine Jama. The analysis focused on a limited area of the US Midwest but found that those who live in the immediate vicinity of these areas have a more than double probability to develop the disease compared to the rest of the population. The key, according to the researchers, could be in theexposure to pesticideswidely used for maintaining the grassy mantle.
Golf and Parkinson’s fields
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According to the data collected, the people who live within 5 km from a golf course They present a more than double probability of being affected by Parkinson’s. The suspicion is that the pesticides used to maintain high aesthetic standards in the green can penetrate the ground, reach the aquifers and therefore the tap of the house. The list of substances used includes well documented products in the scientific literature for theirs potential neurotoxicityincluding Chlorpirifos, McPpp, Paraquat and Rotenone. Several experimental studies have shown that these compounds are capable of inducing the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in Substantia Nigra, one of the brain areas affected by the disease. To this is added that the use of pesticides in American golf courses, according to estimates, can come to be up to 15 times higher compared to the levels detected in Europe.
the study
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The research was conducted by the Barrow Neurological Institute in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, using the data of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a system for connecting clinical folders active in the southern Minnesota states and western Wisconsin. The area considered covers over 41,000 km² and includes 139 Golf courts. The authors started from two main hypotheses: that proximity to golf courses increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s and that this risk can be further amplified in the presence of a Water network vulnerable to contamination.
Parkinson’s diagnosis
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To identify Parkinson’s patients, the researchers analyzed the cases recorded in the county of Olmsted between 1991 and 2015. The identification took place through the codes of the international classification of diseases, with subsequent diagnostic confirmation by specialists of movement disorders. The date of onset of the symptoms was estimated retrospectively and the validity of the diagnoses was confirmed in a subgroup through brain autopsy. The checks were selected on the basis of age and sex and came from the same geographical basin.
Water wells and results
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The study also analyzed 224 Public and private water wellsusing data from the US Geological Survey. Each housing area has been classified according to the water source: underground slopes, surface waters or individual wells. The water service areas were further divided according to the presence or not of golf courses. The results indicate 450 confirmed cases of Parkinson’s in Olmsted County alone, against around 9,000 checks. The population examined showed good residential stability, with a median time of permanence to the addresses detected equal to about 18 years, which reduces the risk of error due to mobility.
limits of the study
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For some time, the scientific community has suspected that prolonged exposure to pesticides could constitute a risk factor not only for Parkinson’sbut also for pathologies such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Unfortunately, these diseases develop over many years and the neurodegeneration process can be influenced by a multiplicity of genetic and environmental factors. That’s why the lack of detailed information on the exposure time constitutes, according to some experts, one of the main limits of the study.
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