> [Original Message]
> From: Jeffrey Fullerton <tcmajorr_at_westol.com>
> To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net <nanfa at aquaria.net>
> Date: 12/19/00 12:19:38 AM
> Subject: NANFA-- Prions
>
> > << Just a word on eating squirrel brains. In Kentucky, I think, this
practice
> > has been linked with a variant of Creutzfeld Jacob Disease, similar to
mad
> > cow disease.
> > >>
> > Come on Bob, I know us hillbillies are eccentric in our old age. Are you
> > serious? That is scary.
> >
> > Moon
> >
>
> Another version is Kuru, discovered in tribes of New Guinea who
> practiced ritual cannibalism of the deceased relatives. At first it was
> assumed to be a hereditary disease because of its recurrence down
> through family lines until a researcher found the causative agent which
> is of a unique class of quasi-biological entities called prions.
>
> Prions are even smaller than viruses and like viruses some scientists do
> not consider them as life forms but more or less self- replicating
> molecular entities perhaps a leftover form of pre-biotic matter or just
> a rogue peice of molecular machinery that spun off living matter and
> makes use of living matter to reproduce itself.
>
> Whatever they are they are evidently hard to kill if killing them is
> possible since they may not be alive in the sense of animate matter. I'm
> not sure of all the facts about prions but the scare generated by mad
> cow disease suggests that cooking does not inactivate these entities -
> unless it's from people undercooking meat that is the source of
> transmission to humans. Someone more knowledgable please set me strait.
>
> I have yet to give up on meat, but I stopped using bone meal as
> fertilizer when I learned that bone meal being recycled into cattle feed
> in England may have been a contributing factor to the spread.
> Something to think about.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
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--- Bob Bock --- bockhouse_at_earthlink.net --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------- /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes / Association" / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead. / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org