Letter regarding: “Paraquat: The Red Herring of Parkinson's Disease Research”

We write this letter in response to the recent editorial entitled ‘‘Paraquat: the Red Herring of Parkinson’s Disease Research’’ by G. W. Miller. In our opinion, this editorial fails to appreciate that Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex disease with multiple interactive etiologic risk factors and that our current animals models, as imperfect as they may be (is there such thing as a ‘‘perfect’’ model?), are critical tools for elucidating the nature and interplay of these factors. The article attempts to support a point of view based on an outdated and incomplete presentation of the current status of the models. Some specific examples of shortcomings are elaborated below: