Pesticide News Briefs

Drugs, pesticides linked to Gulf War Illness

One-fourth of veterans who fought in the Gulf War are thought to suffer from Gulf War Illness. Photo: James Gordon, CC Attribution license 2.0.

Pesticides and a drug called pyridostigmine bromide are being linked to Gulf War Illness. Pesticides were widely used during the 1991 Gulf War to curb desert pests such as sand fleas around military encampments, and pyridostigmine bromide was administered to large numbers of troops to protect them from possible nerve gas attacks. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses recently released this data, after Congress mandated a study of the symptoms.
An estimated 25% of the 700,000 Gulf War vets have Gulf War Illness, but it is likely that none of them are receiving effective treatments for it. Lea Steele of Kansas State University, scientific director for the Committee, says “VA docs often know nothing about it and aren’t able to help them.”
Source: The Washington Post

More evidence links Parkinson’s, Pesticides
The Movement Disorder Center at UCLA recently released a study of the effects of the fungicide ziram on mice. Mice exposed to ziram developed Parkinson’s symptoms within two weeks. Researchers concluded that ziram killed dopamine-producing cells in the brain, which is associated with the onset of Parkinson’s symptoms. The fungicide also affects cells’ ability to break down proteins, which is may be associated with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders.
Parkinson’s disease is more common in the San Joaquin Valley, where ziram is widely used for agriculture, than in other parts of California. Researchers are hoping to use this information—which shows a strong connection between exposure to ziram and the development of Parkinson’s—to prevent or slow the progression of the neurological disease. Source: The Fresno Bee

Pesticides in your food?
After 18 years of funding to test pesticide residues in foods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided to cut the $8 million-a-year program. According to a letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists addressed to the USDA, eliminating the funding will “severely hamper the efforts of the USDA, EPA, and researchers, to perform pesticide risk assessments and make informed policy decisions on pesticide use.”
Mark Miller of the USDA explained that the decision was purely about the bottom line, “we looked at the budget and said, ‘we can’t do everything we have been doing, and what are we going to get rid of?’”
Source: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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