Parkinson’s Disease is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world.

Parkinson’s Disease incidence rates in Australia are increasing by 4% per year, impacting individuals and families all around country, and are estimated to impact our economy and healthcare systems at a cost of over $10 billion each year.

Parkinson’s Australia, alongside Parkinson’s Disease organisations around the world, are speaking out about the links between pesticide exposure and PD.

Research by UCLA Health and Harvard has found 53 pesticides implicated in Parkinson’s Disease, with 10 of these pesticides found to be directly toxic to dopaminergic neurons.

Parkinson’s Disease prevalence in Australia is projected to increase.

Growing evidence is demonstrating the use of pesticides is closely related to adverse effects on human mental health, such as anxiety and depression.

Exposure to agricultural pesticides puts farmers at a six times greater risk of exhibiting depressive symptoms, including chronic anxiety, irritability, restlessness, and sadness. Specifically, exposure to organochlorines and fumigants (gaseous pesticides) heighten an individual’s risk of depression by 90% and 80%, respectively.

Individuals suffering from occupational pesticide exposure face a disproportionate risk of developing depression. However, pesticide exposure from nearby agricultural fields remains a threat to residential (non-occupational) human health. Previous studies found that populations living near farms are more likely to have high depressive symptoms. Similarly, a 2019 study found that teens and adolescents living in agricultural areas, where organophosphate exposure is prevalent, are at higher risk of depression.

Pesticide poisoning as a means of suicide

Beyond contributing to mental health decline, more than 100,000 people die yearly from intentional (self-harm) poisoning with pesticides. Pesticide poisoning is one of the most common methods of suicide worldwide, responsible for at least 14 million deaths since the 1960s.

The main reasons for this are how easily accessible and lethal they are when consumed. Research from the Pesticide Suicide Prevention Centre at Edinburgh University shows that in Sri Lanka, following bans of acutely toxic pesticides, there were enormous declines in suicides in the country (see graph below). Not only was government action to reduce the availability of lethal pesticides was highly effective in preventing deaths from pesticide self-poisoning, but importantly people weren’t substituting pesticide self-poisoning with other lethal methods of suicide, as it was the overall suicide rate (not just pesticide suicides) that fell. People were still self-harming with pesticides, but crucially, were no longer dying.