In order to examine the extent to which a consensus exists in the scientific community regarding the relationship between paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s disease, a critical review of the reviews was undertaken focusing on reviews published between 2006 and today, which offered opinions on the question of causation.
Systematic searches were undertaken of scientific databases as well as published bibliographies to identify English language journals on the topic of paraquat and Parkinson’s disease, including those on the broader topic of factors. environmental and occupational risk of Parkinson’s disease.
Of the 269 publications identified in the searches, twelve reviews, some with meta-analyzes, met the inclusion criteria. Information on the methods used by the examiners, if any, and the source of funding was collected; the quality of the reviews was reviewed.
No author in a published review has said that exposure to paraquat has been shown to cause Parkinson’s disease, regardless of the methods used and regardless of the source of funding. The scientific community agrees that the available evidence does not support a claim that paraquat causes Parkinson’s disease.
