Rates of Parkinson’s disease are exploding. A common chemical may be to blame
There is always the problem of over time people not dying of other causes so that more get to live to the ages where they can get diseases that used to be rarer. Also, AFAIK, improvements have been made in the diagnosis of Parkinson's.<p>> in the US, the number of people with Parkinson’s has increased 35% the last 10 years<p>10 years ago, the oldest U.S. baby boomers were reaching 65. Now, they are reaching 75[1].<p>Given the fact that birth rate went from 19/1000 to 27/1000 between 1935 and 1946 and the fact that people born in 1946 faced a much friendlier environment to grow up in, the numbers are not surprising.<p>The fact is, industry also grew at the same time, so it will always be possible to find positive correlations between prevalence of some disease and some industrial chemical.<p>It is not impossible that a causal relationship exists, but that needs to be established using something other than simple correlations.<p>[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-20th_century_baby_boom#North_America" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-20th_century_baby_boom#Nor...</a>