You don't have to trust me, I am not a doctor but I am deeply interested in ALS/Parkinson/Alzheimer's diseases and I read many scientific articles for my blog.<p>This article tells something true, but as usual, it is much more complicated than that.
The anecdote about MPTP is true, but it is not the only way to induce Parkinson's disease, for example, animal models are often created with 6-OHDA<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_models_of_Parkinson%27s_disease" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_models_of_Parkinson%27s...</a><p>The Politico article cites rotenone only one time, yet it is commonly used to induce Parkinson's disease.<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40203643/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40203643/</a><p>My guess as a layman in medicine is that if you mess enough with the body's function it retaliates with severe diseases like cancers, Parkinson or ALS (try eating false morels!).<p>The problem is in my view ecological, we are poisoning our environment.
I can certainly understand the government predicament around the world on why they are so hesitant to give up pesticides. Modern agriculture today is unfortunately heavily dependent on pesticides and fertilizers. Before India become one of the top 5 producers in the world and became self-sufficient to feed its billion+ population, we literally begged for food from other countries. The humiliation of doing so, and political price we had to pay to get such "food aid" was instrumental in driving us to become self-sufficient. I doubt whether any politician really has the political will to experiment with how farming is done today because of such international and domestic political factors. I guess the slow death of someof its citizens through pesticide-linked diseases is certainly more acceptable for them (in the cost-benefit analysis they do) than even contemplating or dealing with the uncertainty of the political disruptions any shortage of food or increase in food prices can cause domestically, not to mention the international repercussion of having to be dependent on another country to feed your population.
“The agency relies on a system built around predefined methods and industry-supplied data.”<p>Subsequently, the government evaluates the risk or cost to the populace in terms of the benefits of pest-free, weed-free, and otherwise undesirable food.<p>Despite scientific and manufacturer consensus, paraquat remains in widespread use despite its established association with Parkinson’s disease. In a legal proceeding regarding the adverse effects of glyphosate on human health, Bayer presented evidence from this study.
Possibly.<p>Being too closely related to MPP+, paraquat should be banned.<p>As an unrelated example of residues in non-organic crops: oats are typically sprayed with glyphosate to speed drying them simply to reduce the amount of fuel needed to harvest them.