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Deadly Feasts

Richard Rhodes

I have never read a Stephen King novel, but I am sure this book is more frightening than any Stephen King novel because this one is not fiction. It is the story of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy diseases of which Mad Cow Disease is but one form. It is always fatal. It spreads in the cannibalism of animals by animals. It spreads in the industrial cannibalism of animal remains fed to animals. It can spread to cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens. It can spread by eating meat.

— Warren Langdon



What’s more, it can also spread through medical cannibalism: organ transplants, hormones derived from human sources, blood products…. Lest you read this book and decide that vegetarianism is the only way to go, it can also be passed via vegetables grown with fertilizer from infected sources. Some of these transmission routes have been proven, some not yet—but all are possible in theory. The infectious agent, whatever it is, is not destroyed by the usual methods of disinfection. And the assurance that Mad Cow Disease is not present in the United States gives little comfort, since we have other forms of TSE quite sufficient to do considerable harm.

In other words, the danger is so pervasive that I’m not yet inclined to take any action at all. Quite aside from the danger of TSE, however, the description of what goes on in a slaughterhouse is enough to make you think twice about the next hamburger….

— Linda Wightman

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