Pesticides and dementia

And hopefully this findings won't be easily forgotten...
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Working with pesticides linked to dementia

PARIS: Long-term exposure to pesticides may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, according to a study released Thursday.

Workers "directly exposed" to bug and weed killers while toiling in the prestigious vineyards of Bordeaux, France were five times more likely to score less well on a battery of neurological tests than those with minimal or no exposure, the study found.

As revealing, this high-exposure group was twice as likely to register a significantly sharp drop in a key test -- frequently used to diagnose dementia -- repeated four years after the initial examination.

The drop "is particularly striking in view of the short duration of follow up and the relatively young age of the participants," mostly in their late 40s or 50s, the authors said.

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that chronic use of pesticides in agriculture boosts the risk of neurological disorders.

France has the highest use of insecticides and herbicides in Europe, and the fourth highest worldwide after the United States, Japan and Brazil.

More than 800,000 people in France are exposed in the agriculture sector, as were another 800,000 who are now retired.

Worldwide the number of labourers who work regularly with pesticides is counted in the tens, if not the hundreds, of millions.

In the Bordeaux study, led by Isabelle Baldi of The French Institute for Public Health, Epidemiology and Development, 614 workers were enrolled in 1997 and 1998 and re-evaluated four or five years later.

On both occasions they completed a detailed questionnaire on their work history, along with nine tests designed to measure memory and recall, language retrieval, verbal skills and reaction times.

The subjects were divided into four groups depending on their level of exposure to pesticides over the previous 20 years or longer, ranging from "directly exposed" to "not exposed".

"The mild impairment we observed raises the question of the potentially higher risks of injury in this exposed population, and also of the possible evolution toward neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or other dementias," the researchers concluded.

The same cohort is undergoing a third evaluation, 12 years after the baseline examination. Results will be published in 2012 or 2013.

"This time lag should enable us to better understand cognitive impairment and its evolution, and observe the first cases of Alzheimer's disease among a population close to 65 years of age," the researchers said in a companion briefing paper.

-AFP/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Working with pesticides linked to dementia

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Don’t want virus? Don’t share food!

I REFER to the report, "Singapore ready to tackle swine flu" (my paper, April 28).

The World Health Organization has described the swine-flu outbreak as "a public-health emergency of international concern".

It is a stark reminder of the Sars epidemic in 2003.

A pandemic on top of the global recession would batter the Singapore economy and lead to even more unemployment.

The Government has a duty to educate Singaporeans on tackling disease threats.

We must never be complacent, especially with respiratory diseases such as human flu, Sars, bird flu, swine flu and tuberculosis.

A normal person can survive without food or water for some time. But if he cannot breathe because his lungs are infected, he will die.

While many know that washing one's hands and not coughing openly are good hygiene habits, few pause to think about the consequences of sharing food, when individuals use their utensils to eat from common dishes.

A 1994 Ministry of Health (MOH) publication confirmed that through sharing food, "we are likely to share saliva as well, (along) with any bacteria or viruses (that are) in it".

Saliva can transmit many micro-organisms.

Among them are the viruses that cause hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), human flu, Sars, bird flu and swine flu, and those that are linked to liver cancer (hepatitis B virus) and nose cancer (Epstein-Barr virus).

The micro-organisms also include bacteria that cause tuberculosis and meningitis, and a bacterium that is linked to stomach cancer (Helicobacter pylori).

Few Singaporeans know that adults can also contract HFMD through close contact or the sharing of food.

The disease is then passed on to their children in the same manner.

Health risks aside, stop and think: How can you possibly enjoy your food when it contains others' saliva?

The MOH publication also had a simple recommendation: It suggested that serving spoons, separate soup bowls and sauce dishes be used both at home and in public eating places.

Regrettably, this important piece of public-health advice was never widely publicised.

Thus, many Singaporeans remain unaware of the health risks of sharing food.

A 2004 report in The Straits Times quoted Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan as saying: "There is nothing wrong with communal eating... But I think we can make it hygienic just by using serving spoons."

For years, Chinese restaurants in Australia have been routinely providing customers with serving spoons.

This is not so with most restaurants here, where it is a constant hassle to ask waiters to provide serving spoons for each dish.

These actions are urgently needed:

Public campaign

The Health Promotion Board should mount an "Eat the Hygienic Way" campaign to inform Singaporeans about hygienic eating habits, such as using serving spoons, to complement its "Eat the Healthy Way" campaign.

Make serving spoons compulsory

The National Environment Agency could issue a compulsory directive to hawkers and restaurants, requesting that they provide serving spoons to customers.

Mr See Leong Kit

From myPaper, My Say – Wednesday, 29-April-2009