Quote:
Originally Posted by Robie
Following a post in which excerpts from a JAMA study were posted, several replies were posted indicating things to the effect of the study being flawed, JAMA has been discredited, etc., but with no support or study to the contrary being specifically cited. One poster suggested that the JAMA study was conducted in a way in which their desired result would be confirmed. But could it be that the replies suggesting, without support, that there is no correlation is similarly the same confirmation bias on the other side? I'm not trying to be argumentative, or suggest that I know anything one way or the other, but rather honestly trying to find out the truth since I live on a golf course. Is there and study or other credible source that can be cited that is the definitive final answer to this debunking JAMA, if there ever is such a thing a definitive final answer?
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Start with this, there are plenty of true experts without an agenda that dispute the findings of this study:
"But not everybody agrees with that assessment. Experts have called the conclusion "reductive," arguing that the evidence is simply not strong enough to draw a definitive line between the prevalence of Parkinson's and the pesticides used at golf courses in the US.
"This study suggests an association between pesticides and Parkinson’s, however there are some important limitations in the methodology to be aware of," said Parkinson’s UK director of research David Dexter in a statement. "Firstly, Parkinson’s starts in the brain ten-15 years before diagnosis and the study didn’t only use subjects who permanently lived in the area. This would not only affect participants’ exposure, but also suggests their Parkinson’s could have started before they moved around a golf course."
"The population was also not matched for location with 80 percent of the Parkinson’s subjects living in urban areas, compared to only 30 percent of controls, hence other factors like air pollution from motor vehicles etc. could also account for some of the increases in Parkinson’s incidence," he added.
"Many studies have investigated whether pesticides increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s in different populations around the world," Parkinson's UK research lead Katherine Fletcher added. "The results have been varied, but overall suggest that exposure to pesticides
may increase the risk of the condition."
"However, the evidence is not strong enough to show that pesticide exposure directly causes Parkinson’s," she added, arguing the study is "reductive" and "doesn’t take into account how someone might have been exposed to pesticides at their workplace or whether they have a genetic link to the condition."