HOUSE MEMORIAL 42

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Terry H. McMillan

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO CONDUCT A LITERATURE SEARCH OF SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND PESTICIDE EXPOSURE AND TO SUPPORT FEDERAL LEGISLATION THAT WOULD AUTHORIZE THE FEDERAL CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION TO GATHER DATA ON PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO STUDY THE HISTORIC USE OF AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDES IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, Parkinson's disease is a chronic and progressive neurological disease that is the result of the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells; and

     WHEREAS, there is no cure, therapy or drug to slow or halt the progression of Parkinson's disease; and

     WHEREAS, it is unknown how many Americans, or how many New Mexicans, live with Parkinson's disease; and

     WHEREAS, the department of health must rely upon death certificates to tabulate death rates due to Parkinson's disease; and

     WHEREAS, there is no other data source in New Mexico to estimate the prevalence of Parkinson's disease; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico's Parkinson's disease-related death rate is thirteen and four-tenths per one hundred thousand population; and

     WHEREAS, national legislation has been proposed to amend the federal Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment of permanent national surveillance systems to track the epidemiology of certain neurological diseases, including Parkinson's disease, and to facilitate further research on these diseases; and

     WHEREAS, environmental exposure to pesticides has long been suspected of playing a role in causing Parkinson's disease; and

     WHEREAS, occupational exposure to pesticides often occurs in the case of agricultural workers in open fields and greenhouses; and

     WHEREAS, low-level chronic exposure of the general population to pesticides occurs primarily through eating food and drinking water contaminated with pesticide residues; and

     WHEREAS, risk assessment of the impact of pesticides on human health is not an easy or accurate process due to differences in duration and level of exposure; and

     WHEREAS, southwestern New Mexico has a large agricultural sector, and it is important that agricultural workers know which pesticides they have been, and are being, exposed to; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico department of agriculture regulates the agricultural use of pesticides;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of health be requested to conduct a literature search of scientific studies of Parkinson's disease and pesticide exposure; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department of health be requested to write New Mexico's congressional delegation in support of national legislation to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment of permanent national surveillance systems to track the epidemiology of certain neurological diseases, including Parkinson's disease, and to facilitate further research on these diseases; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico department of agriculture be requested to study the historic use of agricultural pesticides in New Mexico and to provide its findings to the department of health; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico department of agriculture and the department of health be requested to present the results of their studies to the legislative health and human services committee by September 1, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health, to the director of the New Mexico department of agriculture and to the Parkinson's action network.

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