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Parkinson’s Disease is on the rise in the U.S. The number of people who are diagnosed with it has gone up 35% in the last 10 years.
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disease that affects the nervous system and motor system, restricting the patients’ ability to move and walk.
Researchers are attributing this rise in cases to a chemical in common household products such as dry cleaning, shoe polish, and carpet cleaners. It is called trichloroethylene (TCE).
The data
Studies have linked TCE to Parkinson’s disease and found a six-fold increase in the risk of Parkinson’s to people exposed to this chemical in the workplace. TCE has also been linked to several types of cancers and fetal cardiac defects.
You don’t have to work in a factory with these chemicals to be exposed. The land where you work and live can be infected with it and it can be carried in the groundwater. Some countries regulate the use of TCE and it is banned in the European Union but the U.S. uses 250 million pounds per year and the EPA estimates that about 2 million pounds are released into the environment per year. Might be time to address this, don’t you think?
