MAPS: Re: People Magazine Blasts MDMA

[David <dhe@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 5 Jan 1999 RickMAPS@xxxxxxx went:

> In this week's People magazine (Jan 11,1999), there is an article about
> Parkinson's disease.  Dr. Stanley Fahn, a supposed expert, is quoted as
> saying: "we're looking into why dopamine cells die. We know that some
> toxins kill them, including the chemical MDMA, also known as Ecstasy. Some
> people who have taken it have come down with Parkinson's....." 
> 
>  MDMA does not kill dopamine cells. In fact, extremely high doses of MDMA
> do not even kill serotonin cells, just prune the ends of the axons.  The
> drug that is being confused with MDMA is the synthetic heroin, MPTP, which
> does kill dopamine cells and cause Parkinsons-like symptoms. [...]

I just did a Medline search on Fahn.  He's been author or coauthor on
more than _300_ papers since 1966!  They all seem to be about
Parkinson's or other movement disorders, so I guess that's what he
knows about.

Funny thing is, seven of his papers mention MPTP-induced parkinsonism.
Perhaps he didn't write those parts (coauthorship is a funny thing),
or perhaps his brain just slipped for a moment when he was talking to
_People_.

I agree that it sucks.

--David Epstein
  dhe@xxxxxxxxx



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