Scientists are asking whether the rise of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders may be due to new environmental toxins and microplastics:
The mystery behind the astronomical rise in neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s could be caused by exposure to environmental toxins that are omnipresent yet poorly understood, leading doctors to warn … There is growing consensus that genetics and aging do not fully account for the sharp rise in previously rare diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
Indeed, we already know that “higher levels of air pollution” correlate with “higher risk of stroke.”
The director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Rick Woychik, has warned that chemicals like PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) are
ubiquitous in the environment, as are nanoplastics. And there are trillions of dollars’ worth of demand for nanomaterials, but it’s sobering how little we know about their toxicology.
Woychik has also discussed the state of emerging technology able to reduce PFAS contamination.
A proper understanding of microplastics, together with the promising state of technologies able to break them down, should form part of a genuine environmentalism, and become prominent in the platforms of those parties claiming to represent an alternative to establishment ‘green’ policies.
