The authorization and testing of crop protection products is shaky. “It’s no good,” says UMCG researcher Teus van Laar in the TV Drenthe program De Staat van Drenthe.
Crop protection products are used in agriculture, and also in bulb cultivation. Before they can be applied, they are first tested at European and then at national level. But both the method of testing and admission need to be overhauled, the neurologist believes.
Van Laar has conducted research into the relationship between these substances, including glyphosate, and Parkinson’s disease.
“Normally, 1 in 100 people get Parkinson’s. But if you specifically link that to people with long-term exposure to pesticides, you see that it increases by 50 percent. That is 1.5 percent. That seems very little, but if If you look at that on a national scale, there are a lot of people who get Parkinson’s.”
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