Parkinson’s and pesticides: Islanders at increased risk as government subsidizes preventable causes

Millvale – The Green Party of PEI says the recent front page headline “Finding a Cure” in the Guardian, about a biotechnology corporation’s quest to produce a marketable cure for Parkinson’s disease, is a sad and disturbing commentary on the state of health care in Prince Edward Island.

“More than thirty years of research paints a compelling picture of an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease in populations exposed to agricultural pesticides in the air, dust and water,” said Green party leader Sharon Labchuk.  “In the past year consensus has been building even more quickly in the scientific and advocacy communities as new studies add to the body of evidence.  Islanders should be especially alarmed at research published in the June issue of Environmental Health Perspectives that shows people living in agricultural regions, and exposed to pesticides commonly used on PEI potatoes, are at increased risk for Parkinson’s.”

Labchuk said the association between Parkinson’s and pesticides used on PEI potatoes has been public information for years yet neither Conservative nor Liberal governments in PEI have acted to protect citizens from a clearly preventable cause of this disease. Environment Canada monitoring found PEI air is contaminated with a cocktail of agricultural pesticides.

“The tragedy of lives compromised by preventable causes of this disease is bad enough.  But the cost to PEI taxpayers for health care is spinning out of control, while other programs suffer from lack of funding, because government just doesn’t get that illness prevention makes economic sense,” said Labchuk. “ Instead, Liberal and Conservative governments support subsidies to an agriculture industry that makes people sick and drives up health care costs.”

The Green Party of PEI would immediately transition PEI into an organic province, including removing all support from producers not willing to transition and levying provincial sales tax and  a toxic tax on chemical pesticides and fertilizers.  

-30-

Contact:  Sharon Labchuk 902-621-0719 or 902-940-1261