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Neurologist: High Exposure To Lead Increases Adult Risk Of Parkinson's Disease

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - National attention has been focused on the children in Flint, with an unknown total who could be affected by the city's lead-tainted water.

But are there long-term effects on adults?

Dr. Peter LeWitt, a neurologist with Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, says there is a link between lead poisoning and Parkinson's disease.

"What has come out of research in exploring people with higher or lower exposures of things includes lead. The more lead over your lifetime that you are exposed to, it seems that it increases the risk for Parkinson's," said LeWitt.

LeWitt says not everyone with high exposure to lead will get Parkinson's -- but it is a risk factor.

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