Lisa Says: It was hard to find info 50 years ago on auto immune diseases, so with their rapid rise , it seems common sense that life style and/or environmental factors are playing a key role. Here is information from USA Today about a recent study linking auto immune disorders such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis to home insecticides.
Study raises red flag over home insecticides,
autoimmune diseases
USA TODAY Posted 10/22/2009 7:15 PM
New research suggests a link between women’s
exposure to household insecticides — including
roach and mosquito killers — and the autoimmune
disorders rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
The scientist did not find a direct cause-and-effect
relationship between insecticide exposure and the
illnesses, and it’s possible that the women have
something else in common that accounts for their
higher risk. But epidemiologist Christine Parks, lead
investigator of the study, said the findings do raise
a red flag.
“It’s hard to envision what other factors might
explain this association,” said Parks, an
epidemiologist with the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences who was to present
the study over the weekend at the American College
of Rheumatology annual meeting in Philadelphia.
Previous research has linked agricultural pesticides
to higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, two
diseases in which the immune system goes haywire
and begins to attack the body. Farmers, among
others, appear to be vulnerable.
Parks and her colleagues wanted to find out whether
smaller doses of insecticides, such as those people
might encounter at home from either personal or
commercial residential use, might have a similar
effect.
The researchers examined data from a previous
study of almost 77,000 postmenopausal women
aged 50 to 79. Their findings were to be released M
onday at the American College of Rheumatology’s
annual scientific meeting in Philadelphia.
For now, she said, the findings indicate the need for
“more research on environmental risk factors and
better understanding of what factors might explain
these findings, what chemicals might be associated
with these risks.”
She declined to speculate on how insecticides might
cause problems in the body.
“I would recommend that people read the labels and
take precautions to minimize their personal
exposure” to insecticides, she said. “This is the case
regardless of whether these results are implicating a chemical that’s on the market now or was before.”
Women who reported applying insecticides or
mixing them — about half — had a higher risk of
developing the two autoimmune disorders than
women who reported no insecticide use. This was
the case whether or not they had lived on a farm.
Those who used or mixed the insecticides the most
— judged by frequency or duration — had double
the risk.
Even so, the risk of developing the diseases
remained very low. Overall, Parks said, about 2% of
older adults develop the conditions.
Parks said the insecticides that the women used
included insect killers, such as those designed to
eradicate ants, wasps, termites, mosquitoes and
roaches. They didn’t include insect repellents.
There are some caveats to the research. For one, it’s
not clear exactly what products the women used or
when. “Over time, there have been major changes in
what products were available for home use,” Parks
said.
And while researchers tried to take into account the
influence of factors like age that may boost a
woman’s risk of getting autoimmune diseases, it’s
possible they missed something that boosted the
risk of illness.
Could gardening, which often entails insecticide
use, be a contributing factor? That’s possible. But
Parks said a lot of insecticide use takes place inside
the home, not outside in the garden.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-10-22-insecticides-autoimmune_N.htm
