COUNTRYFILE viewers were shocked to learn there may be a link between a popular pesticide and Parkinson’s Disease.
BBC reporter Claire Marshall visited a number of farmers who had Parkinson’s Disease who believed their illness might be linked to a pesticide they’d used for years.
She spoke to one woman Julie Plumley whose father died after being diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease and who believed it was use of the pesticide, Paraquat that caused it.
“John who died in 2016 always believed his illness was linked to the chemicals he was exposed to on the farm,” Claire explained.
“One particularly toxic weed killer he used was called Paraquat.”
Julie told how her dad and other farmer’s of his generation did not practice the same health and safety guidelines as they do today.
“Obviously we didn’t have the equipment people have got now so everything was done by hand.
“There was always liquid going down on him somewhere.”
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Julie confirmed her dad had bare arms and used a hand sprayer, when using the weedkiller.
“It would have got on him,” she added.
Claire explained to viewers: “A lack of safety equipment was too often the reality for farmers back in the 70s and 80s.”
She later went to visit John’s neighbour Ken and Sue, with that farmer also living with Parkinson’s Disease.
Sue declared: “For two farmers to have a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis within a few hundred yards of each other is quite outstanding really.
“So, there has to be a link somewhere between the sprays and the farming, and the Parkinson’s.”
The episode of BBC’s Countryfile was sure to say “no one can say for sure” what cause the two farmers to acquire Parkinson’s Disease.
Some scientific studies have looked into the links between pesticides, including paraquat, and Parkinson’s Disease.
According to Parkinson’s UK, “the causes of Parkinson’s are complex and not fully understood. For the vast majority of people with the condition, multiple factors will have played a role and, as such, pinpointing a single cause is not possible.”
It added: “When it comes to pesticides, we have known about the association between certain types of pesticide and an increase in risk of Parkinson’s for a while. In fact it was back in the 1980s when scientists first became suspicious of one pesticide called paraquat.
“The chemical with the strongest association is the herbicide paraquat, which has been reported to cause a 2.5 fold increase in the odds of getting Parkinson’s.”
“Sad if it is proven that the chemical causes Parkinsons,” wrote one concerned fan on Twitter.
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Another added: “Scary stuff #Countryfile.”
And a third wrote: “Countryfile farmers’ attitudes to health and safety is abysmal.”
