435 - The Hidden Link Between Gardening and Parkinson's Disease with Dr. Ray Dorsey, author of the Parkinson's Plan

The Beginner's Garden with Jill McSheehy

Jill McSheehy

How To, Education, Home & Garden, Leisure

4.7 • 830 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Parkinson's disease is the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world—and according to neurologist and author Dr. Ray Dorsey, our environment may be playing a much larger role than we think.

In this conversation, Dr. Dorsey shares key insights from his book The Parkinson's Plan, including how certain pesticides and chemicals—some of which are still used in U.S. agriculture today—are correlated with higher Parkinson's risk. As home gardeners, we may be making choices to avoid chemicals, but this episode highlights what we still need to be aware of.

In this episode, we cover:

What Parkinson's does to the body and why it's growing so fast
The link between common agricultural chemicals and neurological risk
What pyrethrins, rotenone, paraquat, and chlorpyrifos are—and where they may show up
Why weed killers and even wooden fences may pose a concern
How to navigate produce choices when organic isn't always accessible
Why well water and contaminated soil may be hidden risks
What to know about dry cleaning solvents like TCE and PCE
Dr. Dorsey's top tips for reducing your risk (including what to prioritize)
Why coffee lovers can celebrate their morning habit

Whether you grow your own food or buy it at the grocery store, this conversation offers an eye-opening look at how to reduce your exposure and make more informed choices.

📘 Learn more about Dr. Dorsey and his book The Parkinson's Plan: https://parkinsonsplan.org

Thank you to our sponsor, Organic REV
Give your fall garden the strong start it needs with Organic REV! I use it on all my fall transplants—from broccoli to lettuce—by dipping the root ball in a REV and water mix before planting. It reduces transplant shock, builds resilient roots, and boosts tired summer soil.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm not switching my team to some fancy work platform that somehow knows exactly how we work.
0:07.3	And its AI features are literally saving us hours every day. We're big fans.
0:13.0	And just like that, teams all around the world are falling for Monday.com.
0:18.0	With intuitive design, seamless AI capabilities, and custom workflow, it's the
0:22.8	work platform your team will instantly click with. Head to Monday.com, the first work platform you'll
0:28.5	love to use. I used to think the water I drank, the food I eat, and the air I breath was safe,
0:34.6	showed a near perfect correlation between pesticide use and rates at Parkinson's
0:40.0	disease. Farmers have 150% increased risk of developing disease. Simply living within a mile
0:46.7	of a golf course was associated with 126% increased risk. We wake up and recognize that chemicals
0:52.5	in our environment are not healthy for
0:55.0	our bodies. We can say goodbye to some of these terrible diseases. Well, hey there, and welcome
0:59.8	back to the Beginners Garden podcast. I have a really special episode for you today. It's a little
1:05.4	different than what I usually share with you on the podcast, but I think it is so, so important.
1:12.1	Today we're going to be talking about what we can do and what is being done today to try to
1:18.5	help reduce the instances of Parkinson's disease. Now, you may be asking like my children
1:23.8	did when I told them who I was interviewing. Why are you doing this on a gardening podcast?
1:28.5	And the reason is because a lot of these causes are related to the food we eat, the food we
1:34.7	grow, and the food that our agriculture system grows. Not everything, but there are definitely
1:41.0	correlations that affect us and that we as gardeners are probably more
1:45.4	attuned to because we do care about eating foods that aren't laced with pesticides. And we do
1:50.9	care about the environment and how we can grow organically. And we're starting to see that we are
1:57.2	paying the price for the decisions that are made in our environments and in our food and what
	...

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