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Subject:
From:
John Mitchell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 19 Feb 2001 14:07:23 EST
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Posted from an environmental journalism listserv. Not that I have an axe to
grind about pesticides, but the point at which mainstream media coverage
probably intersects the most closely with beekeepers and their interests is
in environmental coverage. Maneb is a fungicide. Paraquat is an herbicide
that (I think) is banned in the U.S., but may still be in use in the U.K.,
among commonwealth nations and especially in the developing world.

PESTICIDE SYNERGISM LINKED TO PARKINSON'S DISEASE

More than one million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease. New studies
are suggesting an environmental cause.

When mixed together, two commonly used pesticides can trigger irreversible
symptoms in mice nearly identical to early symptoms of Parkinson's, according
to researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry. When tested alone, the individual pesticides, paraquat and maneb,
have not shown the same effect. Areas where both paraquat and maneb are used
on the same fields mesh with areas of high death rates for Parkinson's
disease (Pacific Coast, Northeast, Great Plains, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and
Texas).

Researcher Deborah Cory-Slechta says this study (in the Dec. 15, 2000,
Journal of Neuroscience), and others the team has not yet published, suggest
that synergistic effects of chemicals may be a major health concern.
Nationally, researchers have completed only a few synergism studies. Some are
listed at http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/synergy/mixtures.htm.

-- Other background: "Chemical cocktails: Are mixed pesticides more potent?"
March 2000 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives,
http://www.sej.org/go/010207-7.htm; "Strange brew: Assessing risk of chemical
mixtures," February 1995 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives,
http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1995/103-2/focus.html

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