water and parkinsons

Environmental factors

U.S. Army helicopter sprayingAgent Orange over Vietnamese agricultural land during the Vietnam war.

A number of environmental factors have been associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's including: pesticide exposure, head injuries, and living in the country or farming.^[26][27] Rural environments and the drinking of well water may be risks as they are an indirect measures of exposure to pesticides.^[28][29]

Implicated agents include insecticides, primarily chlorpyrifos and organochlorines^[30] and pesticides, such as rotenone or paraquat, and herbicides, such as Agent Orange.^[28][29][31] Heavy metalsexposure has been proposed to be a risk factor, through possible accumulation in the substantia nigra; however, studies on the issue have been inconclusive.^[28]

Pathology