[lbo-talk] It destroys your brain...

[Jon Johanning]

The bottom line, I think, is that even in GB, the incidence of CJ 
disease has been very slight. It is much more likely that any given 
member of this list will be killed by a heart attack, stroke, cancer, 
or any of those boring old-fashioned conditions, whether they eat beef 
or not.

I think the popular fascination with CJ disease has two causes: the 
thought of one's brain having holes eaten into it is peculiarly 
horrible, and lots of people want to feel that if they can't keep 
themselves from dying from something or other, they can at least 
renounce beef-eating and take care of that particular danger, however 
remote it may be.

(All that said, there is certainly lots of room for improvement in the 
whole food hygiene system, particularly in the US).

Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
__________________________________
When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit,
'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet;
Nor ever ever shall, until that I die,
For the longer I live the more fool am I.
-- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)