Many Parkinson's cases in Betuwe linked to pesticide use, doctors think

There’s a striking number of people with Parkinson’s in Betuwe, and the local doctors and physiotherapists think that is linked to the years of pesticide use in this region by farmers and horticulturists, De Gelderlander reports.

It was recently announced that the number of Parkinson’s cases in the Netherlands has increased by 30 percent in the past ten years. Healthcare providers in the Betuwe suspect that the increase in their area is even greater.

In the Huissen region, physiotherapy practices have over 100 Parkinson’s patients, De Gelderlander found. In Angeren alone, with less than 3,000 residents, the physiotherapy practice has 55 Parkinson’s patients - so many that they now need three specialized physiotherapists.

“I am sure that if you were to draw a map of the Netherlands, the hotspots of Parkinson’s would be in the traditional agricultural and horticultural areas, like the Betuwe and the bulb region in Zuid-Holland,” Marten van der Ploeg, physiotherapist in Angeren, told the newspaper. He expects the pesticides used in agriculture and horticulture is behind it. “What we see in the Betuwe is no coincidence.”

Nijmegen neurologist Bas Bloem, an expert in the field of Parkinson’s, is currently working on a map of the Netherlands that should show where the disease is most prevalent. “I suspect that our research will confirm these kinds of trends,” he said about the Betuwe doctors’ pesticide concerns.

Although there is insufficient evidence to say in each individual case that Parkinson’s is caused by exposure to crop protection products, research is clear that farmers and gardeners as a group are 2 to 2.5 times more likely to get the disease, Bloem said.

The Dutch Agriculture and Horticulture Organization (LTO) told De Gelderlander that the “facts and opinions regularly overlap” in the discussion about crop protection products. The group said it sets strict requirements for pesticides that can be used and is committed to reducing the number of chemical pesticides.

“If it turns out that products pose risks, then we also believe that these products should immediately be removed from the market,” a spokesperson said. “For the sake of the health of citizens and locals, but also for the health of our food producers.”