January 28, 2014
USA Today (1/28, Szabo) reports that a study published online Jan. 27 in JAMA Neurology associates “exposure to the insecticide” dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) “with Alzheimer’s disease.”

Bloomberg News (1/28, Ostrow) reports that “researchers analyzed blood samples of 86 people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and 79 patients without the condition.” In addition, they examined tissue and blood samples from 11 deceased Alzheimer’s patients. The investigators found that “people with Alzheimer’s disease had about four times the level of” dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), “a DDT byproduct in their blood, compared with those who didn’t have” Alzheimer’s.
[Read more…]