A common chemical called trichloroethylene (TCE) that has been used for more than 100 years to decaffeinate coffee, degrease metal and dry-clean clothes, may be fuelling the rise of Parkinson's disease, according a new paper published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.
The international team of scientists detailed the widespread use of the chemical, the evidence linking the toxicant to Parkinson's, and profiled seven people who developed the disease after working with the chemical or being exposed to it in the environment.
TCE is a chemical compound that is easily absorbed through inhalation, ingestion and skin contact. Once absorbed, it quickly spreads throughout the body.
Acute exposure can cause effects such as headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, followed by loss of co-ordination, drowsiness and difficulty speaking. Severe exposure can lead to coma, cardiac arrhythmias and death.
Dr Dorsey – lead researcher and author of Ending Parkinson’s Disease which devotes a chapter to TCE – told The National: “People should be worried about prior exposure to trichloroethylene either through work or the environment.
“At its peak one in 12 workers in the UK were exposed to the known cancer-causing chemical.
“The lag between exposure and diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease can be 10-40 years so individuals developing Parkinson’s day could be doing so based on exposure decades ago.”
TCE is a widely used solvent employed in a number of industrial, consumer, military and medical applications.
While domestic use has since fallen, TCE is still used for degreasing metal and dry cleaning in the US.
Individuals who worked directly with the chemical have an elevated risk of developing Parkinson's. However, millions more encounter the chemical unknowingly through outdoor air, contaminated groundwater and indoor air pollution.
Dr Dorsey explained to The National that “in addition to occupational exposure, TCE can contaminate drinking water and evaporate from polluted water and readily enter homes, schools and buildings like radon does from soil) and pollute the indoor air”.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, a million Marines, their families, and civilians that worked or resided at the base were exposed to drinking water levels of TCE and perchloroethylene (PCE), a close chemical cousin, that were up to 280 times above what is considered safe levels.
“The closely related perchloroethylene (PCE) is widely used in dry cleaning in the UK. PCE has one additional chlorine atom and likely has similar toxicity to TCE”, Dr Dorsey told The National.
“In the US apartments above ground-floor dry cleaners have increased levels of PCE in their indoor air and because they are fat soluble PCE and TCE can be found in the butter and margarine in the refrigerators of residents”.
The connection between TCE and Parkinson’s was first hinted at in case studies more than 50 years ago.
In animal studies, TCE causes selective loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease in humans.
The scientists warn that "millions who live, learn, and work near former dry cleaning, military, and industrial sites are likely being exposed to toxic indoor air."
Dr Dorsey told The National that TCE has been identified as a carcinogen – a substance or agent that has the ability to cause cancer by damaging DNA or other important cellular processes – by the WHO and the US Environmental Protection Agency due to its ability to cause cancer.
He also highlighted that according to industry reports, China, where Parkinson's disease rates are increasing rapidly, is responsible for half of the TCE market. Despite its known risks, global usage of TCE is expected to grow by 2-3 per cent per year, indicating that the issue is not subsiding but rather escalating.
The paper suggests that this issue needs to be addressed urgently, and that TCE and other environmental pollutants should be removed from the environment to prevent further contamination and harm to public health.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Torque: 1075Nm
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells