As a teenager, EenVandaag radio reporter Laura Kors peeled tulip bulbs in West Friesland summer after summer. When, during a radio report, she encounters Parkinson’s patient Ger Geortz, who probably owes his illness to exposure to agricultural toxins, Laura’s alarm bells go off. Can you now have Parkinson’s disease? And what about her family, friends and fellow villagers? In the new AVROTROS and NPO Radio 1 podcast Will I get Parkinson’s disease? Laura is trying to get an answer to this question, among other things.
Neurologist Bas Blom of Radboud University Nijmegen says he can’t shake Laura’s fears. This is the beginning of research on the risks of pesticide exposure. Is there any way to confirm if you have Parkinson’s disease? Or is it some kind of lottery, one you don’t want to win?
Laura examines what is known about the link between Parkinson’s disease and pesticides. Why weren’t they banned completely? What happens if I actually get Parkinson’s disease?
The 5-part podcast series Will I Get Parkinson’s? Not only is it the story of Laura’s personal search for risk, but also the experiences of people dealing with illness on a daily basis and the sometimes profound implications of the treatment they choose. Laura travels to the area where she was born and raised. There she also talks to farmers who regularly get the middle finger from passersby when they sit on their sprayers. What do they think of the health risks of using pesticides? And last but not least – what was actually on the lamps when Laura herself was working there as a teenager?
Will I get Parkinson’s disease?
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