Health. Parkinson's: Are pesticides responsible for the increase in cases?

Destination Santé reported this in March 2025. A Chinese study, published in the journal The BMJ , indicated that the number of new cases of Parkinson's disease had increased by 81% between 2000 and 2020. Worse, by 2050, 25.2 million people will be living with this disease, an increase of 112% in cases.

Certain regions, such as East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, are expected to be hardest hit. In Western Europe, the disease's prevalence is expected to increase by 100% by 2050. In France, 270,000 people are affected by Parkinson's disease and related disorders, with 27,000 new cases per year. According to figures from the France Parkinson association, 1 in 50 people will be affected during their lifetime.

The disease reduces average life expectancy by 5 years and increases years lived with disability by 8 years. According to the World Health Organization, disability-adjusted life years due to Parkinson's disease have increased by 81% since 2000. And deaths have increased by more than 100%.

Aging population and pesticides

How can this "wave" be explained? Unsurprisingly, the aging population remains the main factor behind this increase in cases of Parkinson's disease, accounting for 89%. But "the environmental factor also plays an undeniable role," warns France Parkinson.

Exposure to pesticides plays a role in the development of the disease and could contribute to its increase. Moreover, since 2012, the disease can, under certain conditions, be recognized as an occupational disease among farmers.

In 2018, Public Health France highlighted that approximately 1,800 new cases per year occurred among farmers aged 55 and over, which corresponds to an incidence 13% higher than among people affiliated with other health insurance schemes.

The incidence of the disease is higher among residents of more agricultural areas, including those who do not work in agriculture, added Public Health France. Wine-growing regions appear to be particularly affected.

In the Netherlands, a small European country that has opted for intensive agriculture, particularly for tulip cultivation, cases of Parkinson's are soaring, with a 30% increase in 10 years. For Professor Bas Bloem, a neurologist specializing in Parkinson's at Radboud University in the Netherlands, the situation is very worrying: " If you expose cells to a single pesticide , it's toxic from a certain quantity of the product. But when there are two pesticides, then a very small quantity is enough for it to be very toxic," he declared, interviewed by Franceinfo .

He continued : "When we study areas near tulip fields, the numbers are higher. Either you inhale it, and you lose your sense of smell and the toxins go directly to the brain, or you eat it or drink it, for example with your French wine, and it kills cells in the intestine before traveling up the vagus nerve. Initially, it disrupts dreams, and then you develop Parkinson's."

Advocacy for the application of the precautionary principle

In France, according to France Parkinson, the presence of vineyards increases the local incidence of the disease by approximately 10%. However, " conventional viticulture," the most pesticide-intensive, accounts for 20% of the total use of these substances in France, while only occupying 3% of cultivated land."

For the association, "the precautionary principle and prevention must be absolute priorities to slow the increase in the number of sick people."

This is why, together with the Collective for Supporting Victims of Pesticides in the West, Foodwatch and UFC-Que Choisir, she is challenging before the European Court of Justice the renewal of the authorisation of glyphosate , classified as a probable carcinogen by the IARC and suspected of being associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

France Parkinson is calling on public authorities to take stock of the challenge and reiterates the urgency of implementing the national strategy for neurodegenerative diseases, the roadmap for which has been awaited for a year.