Pesticides and MND: Fight the Causes
The passing of AFL legend and tireless campaigner Neale Daniher has brought motor neurone disease (MND) back into the national spotlight.Pesticides and MND: Fight the Causes
Over the past 30 years, deaths from MND in Australia have risen by more than 250%. Australia’s use of pesticides, by volume and toxicity, has also grown considerably during this time.
There is no cure for MND. There is no treatment that can stop it. And yet, the evidence pointing to a causal factor keeps mounting – ‘Insecticides are chemicals that are designed to kill motor neurons.’
Professor Dominic Rowe AM, Professor of Neurology at Macquarie University and senior author of research into MND, has found clear geographic differences in MND incidence in Australia, with mortality in 2019-2023 ‘significantly higher in regional areas compared to major cities’.
According to Professor Rowe: ‘Higher MND mortality in regional areas compared to cities suggests that people living or working in regional areas might be exposed to risk factors that their city-dwelling counterparts don’t encounter. The regional differences mirror my clinical observation over many decades – in my opinion, environmental factors are the cause of the increasing number of MND cases.’
Professor Rowe has pointed specifically to insecticides: ‘Australian agriculture used half a billion dollars’ worth of insecticides last year. Insecticides are chemicals that are designed to kill motor neurons.’
‘Our hypothesis is that it’s to do with the co-location of the population and agriculture,’ Professor Rowe said.
‘If you look at South Australia, most of the population is tucked down into the southeast corner and that is exactly where all their intense viticulture is.’
‘Similarly, in Tasmania, it’s the orchard industry.’
As with Parkinson’s disease, increasing incidence of MND is not something we need to accept.
Prevention is always better than a cure.
And prevention is the only tool we have. MND cannot be reversed. It cannot be treated into remission. Once it starts, it doesn’t stop. With new and dangerous pesticides being released into Australia every year, it’s not going to stop without action taken on the causes.
Fight the causes.
The Daniher family grew up on a sheep and wheat farm at Ungarie, in a broadacre cropping region of Central West NSW known for heavy pesticide use. Epidemiology can’t establish individual causation, but the pattern sits him squarely in the highest-risk demographic.
So, the next time you see someone wearing a Big Freeze beanie, have a chat with them about pesticides.