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appalachiablue

(42,869 posts)
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 04:36 AM Oct 2022

Exposure to Environmental Toxins May Be Root of Rise in Neurological Disorders - Dementia, More

'Exposure to environmental toxins may be root of rise in neurological disorders,' The Guardian, Oct. 23, 2022. - Ed.

- Doctors warn exposure to omnipresent yet poorly understood chemicals such as microplastics could play a role in dementia. -

The mystery behind the astronomical rise in neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s could be caused by exposure to environmental toxins that are omnipresent yet poorly understood, leading doctors warn. At a conference on Sunday, the country’s leading neurologists & neuroscientists will highlight recent research efforts to fill the gaping scientific hole in understanding of the role environmental toxins – air pollution, pesticides, microplastics, forever chemicals and more – play in increasingly common diseases like dementias & childhood developmental disorders.

Humans may encounter a staggering 80,000 or more toxic chemicals as they work, play, sleep and learn – so many that it is almost impossible to determine their individual effects on a person, let alone how they may interact or the cumulative impacts on the nervous system over a lifespan. Some contact with environmental toxins is inevitable given the proliferation of plastics and chemical pollutants, as well as America’s hands off regulatory approach, but exposure is unequal.

In the US, communities of color, Indigenous people and low income families are far more likely to be exposed to a myriad of pollutants through unsafe housing and water, manufacturing and agricultural jobs, and proximity to roads and polluting industrial plants, among other hazards. It’s likely genetic makeup plays a role in how susceptible people are to the pathological effects of different chemicals, but research has shown higher rates of cancers and respiratory disease in environmentally burdened communities.

Very little is known about impact on brain & nervous system disorder, but there is growing consensus that genetics & ageing do not fully account for the sharp rise in previously rare diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s & ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) – a degenerative disease more likely in army veterans & neighborhoods with heavy industry. Neurologists & their surgical counterparts, neurosurgeons, will spotlight the research gap at the Amer. Neurological Association (ANA) annual meeting in Chicago. “Neurology is about 15 years behind cancer so we need to sound the alarm on this & get more people doing research because the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] is absolutely not protecting us,” said Frances Jensen, ANA president & chair of the Dept. of Neurology at the Univ. of Pennsylvania...

- More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/23/environmental-toxins-neurological-disorders-parkinsons-alzheimers
------------------------

* Also: - 'Alzheimer's Disease: Brain Changes, Symptoms and Treatment,' Live Science, June 19, *2019. - Alzheimer's disease is an incurable brain disorder that causes plaques to grow around nerve cells, destroying them.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior in older adults. The disorder affects an estimated 5.7 million Americans, and is the 5th-leading cause of death in people ages 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Alzheimer's disease is often used as a synonym for dementia, which is a devastating loss of memory and cognitive function in older people, said Dr. Brad Hyman, a neurologist & director of the Massachusetts Disease Research Center at Mass. General Hospital in Boston.

- Dementia is an umbrella term for impaired memory thinking skills, and Alzheimer's is a specific form of dementia. Alzheimer's disease is responsible for 50-70% of all dementia cases, according to Alzheimers.net...https://www.livescience.com/65748-alzheimers-disease.html

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Bernardo de La Paz

(50,857 posts)
2. Take care. I hold my breath for 15 seconds if I walk past a running diesel engine (bus/truck)
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 05:32 AM
Oct 2022

Just one way to take care.

Be careful about all kinds of toxic exposure. Standards are set to levels that prevent gross death within a few years, but say nothing about deleterious effects over a lifetime.

Toxic exposure can come from:

* a lungful of outgassed chems when opening packaging (hold your breath)
* carpet glue (give new carpet days with open windows)
* carpet degradation dust (prefer wool / natural products)
* fire retardant chemicals in furniture (don't buy new furniture each year)
* micro-plastics
* face right close to craft projects
* food from China (lax regulation, putting it politely)

Further, stretch your mind daily with crossword puzzles or playing musical instrument or learning a new skill or any number of things. Dancing and gardening are very good for providing exercise while engaging the mind and reducing stress.

Exercise and good sleep (quantity and quality) are very important. Sleep helps the brain keep itself clean. Exercise circulates toxins through liver and kidneys and out of the body, as well as keeping blood vessels robust in the brain and too many benefits to list here.

Ilsa

(62,225 posts)
4. "D'uh" was the first thing I thought from the title.
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 06:38 AM
Oct 2022

We can never discount environmental effect on health matters over time.

sop

(11,121 posts)
7. Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' exposed these environmental health risks way back in 1962.
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 07:18 AM
Oct 2022

Carson mostly warned us about the dangers of chemical pesticides, but acknowledged that all man-made environmental toxins can have negative health effects.

ShazzieB

(18,577 posts)
5. Wow...
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 07:07 AM
Oct 2022
there is growing consensus that genetics & ageing do not fully account for the sharp rise in previously rare diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s & ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)


I had no idea that the incidence of these diseases was rising sharply. This doesn't really surprise me, but I am surprised that I was totally unaware of it. Pretty scary when you think about it.

Trueblue Texan

(2,913 posts)
6. In the multiple counties of seniors I see...
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 07:09 AM
Oct 2022

I have rarely seen a person of color with a neurodegenerative disease. Most of the people with dementias and Alzheimer's are white women in my experience. I have only seen one black (woman) person with ALS; I've seen one white woman with ALS--all the rest have been men, but I admit I'm seeing more ALS patients nowadays. I mostly see Parkinson's in men, but a few women too. Parkinson's and ALS seem to be on the rise. Most of these are farmers and veterans. I haven't noticed a similar rise in Alzheimer's. Of course, this is all anecdotal and means little in the larger context.

But these trends are why we have to have a written plan, instructions for our families to carry out our wishes. Most people are never even informed they have dementia. Just talking about it makes people feel uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. But after stage 4 of Alzheimer's dementia, you're no longer considered safe to live alone or make decisions. It's very important you make decisions before you reach that point and write them down so others can carry them out on your behalf.

The increase in neurological disease is one more of the great tragedies of our time.

patricia92243

(12,812 posts)
9. I figured this out years ago. I also wonder about children that are born on the
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 07:28 AM
Oct 2022

spectrum. It seems to be a huge number compared to in the past.

NH Ethylene

(30,997 posts)
13. Same here, and I've also wondered about autism.
Tue Oct 25, 2022, 09:24 AM
Oct 2022

The rationale that the vastly increased prevalence is just due to increased awareness and/or a widening of the definition fell flat decades ago.

HAB911

(9,356 posts)
10. I only half jokingly blame the fact that 30-50%
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 07:36 AM
Oct 2022

of our population is blatantly insane and denying reality, on these things that have entered our food chain, plastics in particular and all of those constituent toxins.

appalachiablue

(42,869 posts)
11. DARK WATERS film, drinking water contaminated w PFOA, toxic chemical used in Teflon,
Mon Oct 24, 2022, 09:10 AM
Oct 2022

- "Dark Waters Tells True Story of the Lawyer Who Took DuPont to Court & Won. But Rob Bilott’s Fight Is Far From Over," TIME, Nov. 25, 2019.

Rob Bilott, a corporate lawyer-turned-environmental crusader, doesn’t much care if he’s made enemies over the years. “I’ve been dealing with this for almost three decades,” he says. “I can’t really worry about if the people on the other side like me or not.”

Bilott used to be on the other side. The Todd Haynes-directed movie Dark Waters, now playing in theaters, tells the story of how the lawyer, played by Mark Ruffalo, switched allegiances. As happened in real life, the movie depicts Ruffalo’s Bilott as a lawyer who defends large chemical companies before he is approached for help in 1998 by Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), a West Virginia farmer whose land was contaminated by chemical giant DuPont.

Inflamed by that injustice, and the complicity of local authorities, the lawyer risks his career as he embarks on a decades-long legal siege of one of America’s most powerful corporations. He works, at first, on Tennant’s behalf, then pursues a class action suit representing around 70,000 people living near a chemical plant that allegedly contaminated drinking water with PFOA, a toxic chemical used in the production of Teflon. In recent years, studies have correlated long-term exposure to PFOA with a number of illnesses, including some types of cancer...

- Read More, https://time.com/5737451/dark-waters-true-story-rob-bilott/



- DARK WATERS movie, 2019.
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