Pesticide exposure puts Parkinson’s recognition in focus for farmers

Farmers with Parkinson’s in Switzerland are asking whether years of pesticide use contributed to their illness, as Germany recognises the disease as an occupational illness. SRF reports that studies have found a higher risk among people who applied pesticides over long periods.

Swiss farmer Hanspeter Binggeli was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021. As a child, he followed his father’s pesticide sprayer through the fields, and later applied pesticides himself while tending fruit trees for decades. Protective measures were not taken as seriously in the past, he told SRF’s Rundschau. He now wonders whether his exposure was connected to his illness.

Germany added Parkinson’s to its list of occupational diseases this summer. Occupational physician Monika Rieger said international studies support a causal link between pesticide exposure and Parkinson’s. The recognition applies to people who personally used herbicides, insecticides or fungicides for at least 100 days. Germany had approved 1,080 applications by September.

Recognition can provide financial support through the agricultural accident insurance scheme, including help with medical equipment and building modifications. Wolfgang Hügel, a farmer in Baden-Württemberg who has Parkinson’s, is awaiting a decision on his application. His wife, Roswitha, believes pesticides caused his illness.

Switzerland has not recognised Parkinson’s as an occupational disease. People can apply for recognition individually, but they must prove that pesticide exposure caused their illness and that it accounts for at least 75 per cent of it. Binggeli says that is impossible to demonstrate. Self-employed farmers are also not obligatorily insured under Switzerland’s accident insurance system, so the country would need to find another way to support them if the disease were recognised.

Swiss data on how many people have Parkinson’s are not currently available. A research team at health insurer Helsana has analysed thousands of records and found increases in cases as well as regional clusters. The study is ongoing, and it has not established whether those clusters are in areas where more pesticides were used. The Suva accident insurance organisation plans to reassess international research in 2027 and could ask the Federal Council to amend the occupational disease list.