New York, Oct 23 (IANS): 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 warn, the media reported.
Neurologists and neuroscientists will highlight recent research efforts to fill the gaping scientific hole in understanding of the role environmental toxins - air pollution, pesticides, microplastics, forever chemicals and more - play in increasingly common diseases like dementias and childhood developmental disorders.
Humans may encounter a staggering 80,000 or more toxic chemicals as they work, play, sleep and learn - so many that it is almost impossible to determine their individual effects on a person, let alone how they may interact or the cumulative impacts on the nervous system over a lifespan.
Some contact with environmental toxins is inevitable given the proliferation of plastics and chemical pollutants, as well as America's hands off regulatory approach, but exposure is unequal, The Guardian reported.
In the US, communities of colour, indigenous people and low income families are far more likely to be exposed to a myriad of pollutants through unsafe housing and water, manufacturing and agricultural jobs, and proximity to roads and polluting industrial plants, among other hazards.
It's likely genetic makeup plays a role in how susceptible people are to the pathological effects of different chemicals, but research has shown higher rates of cancers and respiratory disease in environmentally burdened communities.
Very little is known about impact on brain and nervous system disorder, but there is growing consensus that genetics and ageing do not fully account for the sharp rise in previously rare diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) - a degenerative disease more likely in army veterans and neighbourhoods with heavy industry, The Guardian reported.
Neurologists and their surgical counterparts, neuroscientists, will spotlight the research gap at the American Neurological Association (ANA) annual meeting in Chicago.
"Neurology is about 15 years behind cancer so we need to sound the alarm on this and get more people doing research because the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is absolutely not protecting us," said Frances Jensen, the ANA president and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, The Guardian reported.