The Meeting Report of the Parkinson’s Action Network, headed by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, includes a Consensus Statement on Parkinson’s Disease and the Environment. The Consensus Statement, which multidisciplinary experts have contributed to and endorsed, assesses what is known about the contribution of environmental factors to PD.

The analysis of current evidence at the Conference indicates that genetic mutations are the sole cause of disease in less than 10% of PD cases. Therefore, the primary message is that an interplay among environmental factors and genetic makeup likely influences the risk of developing PD. The study uncovered limited suggestive evidence that agricultural and farm workers and/or those exposed to pesticides have a higher chance of developing Parkinson’s disease.

The Consensus Statement will weigh heavy on future research on PD in the direction of environmental factors and legislative decisions taken on the environment that could impact human health.

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