[Personal View] Environmental toxicants and Parkinson's disease: recent evidence, risks, and prevention opportunities

The global burden of Parkinson's disease is rising. Large-scale genetic studies have confirmed that extrinsic or environmental factors, rather than genetic predisposition, play a dominant role in its cause. Increasing evidence implicates three classes of toxicants—certain pesticides, the dry-cleaning chemicals trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, and air pollution—in the development of Parkinson's disease. These toxicants are widely prevalent, impair mitochondrial or lysosomal function, or both, and contribute to, if not cause, the disease.