University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. (2019, June 15). Scientists discover protective strategy against pesticide-linked Parkinson’s disease. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 2, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/10615100352.htm

 

A recent study has found a link between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to common fungicides and pesticides called dithiocarbamates. The study was centered around the fungicide called ziram, a commonly used fungicide in California’s Central Valley. This fungicide causes the  “loss of the main source of dopamine in the central nervous system”, which is linked to Parkinson’s disease. But more inspiring, the researchers have found a protective strategy which blocks zirams negative properties in zebrafish. The researchers “genetically knocked out” the protein    (α-synuclein) which is affected by the ziram and causes the loss of dopamine, and they were able to expose the fish to ziram without and negative effects. This is important because “it establishes that environmental toxins work on same pathway” that are connected Parkinson’s, and that there are ways in science to help combat the effects of certain toxins which we didn’t know about before.

 

This article was inspiring to read, I enjoyed that it gave a positive outlook/strategy for the issue rather than just stating the issue. I think that if more research like this continues, we will be able to truly combat environmentally related disease caused by excessive use of pesticide or fungicide. The only other option in my opinion is to find a sustainable alternative to pesticides/fungicides, but that takes lots of time and funding and would probably not be completely realistic to implement, so for now these preventative measures are a step in the right direction.The irritating thing about these issues is that when standards for pesticides have already been set and the WHO and EPA don’t recognize pesticides or pollution as bad, the pesticides go unchecked and hurt the people involved. Also, if the farmers don’t use pesticides they may not be able to compete with the other farmers so its somewhat of a tragedy of the commons.