Why advocates for Parkinson’s disease prevention are cheering a US ban on a dry cleaning solvent

Parkinson’s disease activists are cheering a recent US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ban on most uses of perchloroethylene (PERC) and trichloroethylene (TCE),1 after decades of lobbying. They say the solvents are a major factor in the explosion of cases of Parkinson’s over the past 15 years. PERC and TCE share a common toxic metabolite and have both been used in dry cleaning.

Ray Dorsey, a neurologist at the University of Rochester, New York, says that exposure to TCE is known to increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.2 A 2012 study showed that a twin exposed to TCE had a 500% increased risk compared with their unexposed twin. Animal studies have shown that TCE causes selective loss of neurons in the striatum and substantia nigra3—areas involved with the production and integration of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is deficient in Parkinson’s disease.

“US cases of Parkinson’s have doubled in the past 40 years. They were projected to double again in the next 20 years but have already hit that target, just six years after the prediction,” …