Paraquat - The link to Parkinsons

Ritesh Bawri

Jan 20, 2024 — 2 min read

BreatheAgain

Paraquat is a chemical that is classified as "restricted use." Restricted means that you need a licence to procure and apply, which is strange considering it is an herbicide used to control weeds on a farm.

Anyone who owns a farm or has been to one knows that weeds can be a problem and need to be kept in check. Among the options, paraquat became one option when it was first made in 1961.

Since then, over 50 countries have banned it, and many more have restricted its use. Let us find out why.

Among the many problems it can cause, it has been linked to Parkinson's.

If the chemical comes into direct contact with your mouth or stomach lining, it can cause severe damage.

Ingestion of small amounts can result in heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure, and scarring of the lungs.

If, by accident, you end up overdosing, it can even result in a coma and seizures.

You could argue that you do not work on farms, and therefore the risk of exposure is small.

Unfortunately, consumers may be exposed to paraquats through their food.

Sometimes, to speed up a crop being made available, farms use materials as a desiccant.

A desiccant is a material used to dry something. In this case, the farm is killing immature sprouts and weeds to make it easier to harvest the crop.

Paraquat is one of the materials that helps with this. In fact, in some cases, paraquat has also been found in milk.

But let us go back to Parkinson's. People with a history of Parkinson's disease in their family have been shown to have specific gene types that make them more susceptible.

Such people have a greater than normal risk of paraquat causing the onset of the disease.

So, if members of your family have a history, check your food more carefully for a possible leak of this chemical into your "daily bread."

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain

Sensors - the future

Sensors are devices that detect a change. Light, sound, or smoke, for example. But what might the future of sensors hold for your personal health? Most of us have used simple sensors. Temperature gauge. Blood pressure. But in the not-too-distant future, we might scoff at these simple devices. Let us

Reversal or Remission?

We have come a long way. About a decade ago, when I started my amazing health transformation, most of the people I met were skeptics. The thrust of the argument I would hear would be that there was no way to reverse a disease. In essence, diseases were a one

But then he died

I was recently reading a book on beating cancer. The author outlined the steps he had taken to beat grade III colon cancer successfully. Then I realized he had recently died of cancer. Naturally, my first instinct was to question everything he had said. He had rejected chemotherapy. He had

Preferences - do you have any?

Quick, tell me what your preferences are for food. Ok, at least think of things you like. What if I told you that you do not really have any preferences? What if I told you that your preferences are malleable depending on the circumstances and what you are being told

Read more

Sensors - the future

Reversal or Remission?

But then he died

Preferences - do you have any?