May 17, 2023 13:20:00

A study of more than 300,000 people strongly suggests that water pollutants increase the risk of Parkinson's disease

It has long been suggested that

trichlorethylene may increase the risk of Parkinson's disease, but data are limited. Now, a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco examined data from veterans exposed to water contaminated with organic compounds such as trichlorethylene and found that trichlorethylene increased the risk of causing Parkinson's disease. It was strongly shown that

Risk of Parkinson Disease Among Service Members at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune | Movement Disorders | JAMA Neurology | JAMA Network
https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.1168

Widely used chemical strongly linked to Parkinson's disease | Science | AAAS

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi7403

Camp Lejeune Water Strongly Linked to Parkinson's Disease - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/camp-lejeune-water-strongly-linked-to-parkinsons-disease-8b4c0517

The study included medical records of veterans trained at Marine Corps Base

Camp Lejeune between 1975 and 1985.

Camp Lejeune is located south of Jacksonville, North Carolina.


Camp Lejeune's wells have been contaminated with material runoff from underground storage tanks, factories and landfills, and the water used on the base was at levels 70 times higher than permitted by the US Environmental Protection Agency. contained trichlorethylene.

The research team followed up the Parkinson's disease risk of all Marines and personnel living at Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton, California, where the water was considered uncontaminated, from 1997 to 2021.

As a result, it was found that soldiers and personnel who lived at Camp Lejeune had a 70% higher risk of Parkinson's disease than those who lived at Camp Pendleton. Those who did not have Parkinson's disease were also at a significantly higher risk of developing prodromal symptoms of Parkinson's disease, such as tremors, anxiety, and erectile dysfunction.

The study's lead author, Sam Goldman, was motivated to undertake the study in 2017 when the U.S. government retired from service at Camp Lejeune when the water was polluted and suffered from Parkinson's disease. It declared to military personnel that the onset was caused by continued exposure to trichlorethylene in camps. Goldman decided to investigate Camp Lejeune because he felt the epidemiological evidence was lacking.

A class action lawsuit has been filed over the health hazards of Camp Lejeune's contaminated water, and Science notes that the results of this study are likely to add momentum to the lawsuit.

Gary Miller, who studies Parkinson's disease at Columbia University, said, ``There is a lot of evidence that environmental factors are the cause of Parkinson's disease, but we have only scratched the surface. We need to continue our research,' he said.