A study found that living within a mile of a golf course doubles your Parkinson's risk compared to living six miles away. The likely culprit is pesticide exposure through contaminated water, airborne drift, or inhalation. You can reduce risk by asking courses what they spray, staying inside during applications, and using air purifiers and water filters.
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That individuals who lived within one mile of a golf course had a 126% increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease compared to individuals who lived six or more miles apart.
There's a tremendous amount of toxins sprayed to keep those golf courses looking so great. Is it a risk for people? Should they be worried? Should they stop golfing? What do they do to protect themselves? For sure, don't lick your golf balls, which I know people do to clean them. Tell us, like, if you're a golfer. WTF?
So Dr. Brittany Krasnowski is a geographer. She's at the Bar Neurological Institute, and she worked with her colleague, Dr. Rodolfo Savica, one of our colleagues at Parkinson's specialist, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. And she was concerned about the effects of living near a golf course because golf courses use huge amounts of pest.
A lot of people live on these golf course communities and a lot of.
People live on these golf course communities. So she looked at Rochester, Minnesota, which does a very good job of measuring new cases of Parkinson's disease. And she found that that individuals who lived within one mile of a golf course had a 126% increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease compared to individuals who lived six or more miles apart.
Oh, my.
So why. And so she spends a lot of time in her paper discussing water supply. And so we've talked a little bit about how pesticides can get into the water. For example, people who drink well, water, not really by the safe drinking water act, prone to contamination from nearby farms in rural areas.
Runoff seeps into the ground. Yeah.
Have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease. So she's focused on that. I worry a little bit about the pesticides that are sprayed into the air. There was a small little report in the Annals of Neurology that two neurologists found that 18 of their patients lived near a golf course and 15 of the 18 lived downwind of the golf course. So I worry about pesticides being sprayed on golf courses or on fields and people living downwind and inhaling them. We talked about how many individuals, most individuals. Perhaps Parkinson's begins in the nose. So I worry about nerve toxins being inhaled into the nose. So what to do? One. Well, pickleball. Pickleball. You know, why can't we ask golf courses?
Pickleball, one of those dangerous sports. You know, so many people who are so out of shape, listen, that's. Are filling the emergency rooms with pickleball.
I have a whole pickleball for Parkinson Talk so we can talk about. To keep people safe on the.
Back to the golf. Back to the golf.
Golf. So ask the golf course what pesticides they use. See if they can use less toxic pesticides. Right. Can they use less, can they tell you when they're spraying? Right. So you can take interventions, especially if you have Parkinson's, maybe, you know, get out of town when they're spraying. You can close your windows, you can get an air purifier.
These are all things like an air conditioned golf cart.
Well, you can do an air and.
Don'T drink the water from the core.
And it's, and it turns out not just living near golf course has been an increased risk. Three different studies have found green space workers, including landscapers, to be at higher risk for Parkinson's disease. And one study found that green space workers are higher risk for ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. So there are lots of clues as what's causing these brain diseases, whether it's Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or als. Lots of clues telling us that this is a preventable disease. And lots of clues saying that if we pay attention to our environment, like Rachel Carson said we should.
But realistically, like Ray, can, can people really, like reduce their exposure? If they're out on a golf course for 18 holes, like, isn't it just in there, they're going to be walking on, it's on their shoes, it's on their clothes.
It's like, I'm like you, I'm not a golfer. But I can't imagine that golf courses couldn't be using 50 less pesticides. There are organic golf courses in Martha's Vineyard. They have organic golf courses. If we have organic wine, we have organic produce. If we have organic cheese and dairy products and meats, why can't we have organic golf courses? Why can't we enjoy a nice sp without having to worry about getting parking?
Maybe we'll get President Trump on this regenerative golf course.
But practically speaking, you have a right to know. So ask the course, when do they spray the pesticides? Right. Maybe you don't want to play right after they've sprayed the pesticides. Watch the water that's there. Get a carbon filter, maybe bring your own water. And when you're smoking, for those of you that smoke, I'm not saying you should smoke. When you smoke your stogie and your cigar, don't put it on the ground while you're going to hit the ball and then pick it right back up because you're going to put pesticide in your mouth.
Thank you. Thank you. That was a good answer to a hard question, which still feels like a bit scary to think about golfing. But anyway, for those of you golfers out there, just take care of yourself, get your liver working and reduce as much exposures as you can. If you love that last video, you're going to love the next one. Check it out here.
