Deadly Feasts: The Prion Controversy and the Publics Health

The spins and factual errors I was hearing on news reports about "mad cow" in the U.S. sent me back to Rhodes's excellent work for another look. Deadly Feasts is basic to a layman's understanding of the problem.If more people read this book, we could build a better support base in this country for reforming operations of our food industry, especially how we feed and test animals to be processed for our dinner tables. If we cheat ourselves of this knowledge, however, we'll be making the same mistake we made in the 1940s and 50s. We ignored scientific evidence of the harmful effects of radiation from atomic fission, and we sent people out to test sites just to see what might happen to them.I don't care what the information or precautions or necessary reforms do to "the economy." I don't want my children's and grandchildren's brains wasting away 20 years from now because of the slow but relentless effect of "mad cow."

I read this book years ago when still horrified at the infection of thousands of hemophiliacs with HIV. Feeling somewhat distrustful of the FDA, it seemed prudent to find out what this next big threat was all about. And now, with the first case of "mad cow disease" in the US, it seemed a good time to take another look. Richard Rhodes takes a scientific approach to the evolution of prion borne diseases. He traces them back to cannibalistic rituals and we realize they are not new. The stories of the scientists that attempt to unravel the secrets behind prion borne illness are intriguing. We are led to realize that scientific discovery is big business. The brilliance and tenacity of these research scientists is revealed and while this book is not a pageturner like my favorite thrillers, it is gripping reading nonetheless. This is not a thriller, or science fiction--this is true stuff!! Rhodes doesn't sensationalize, but rather lays the facts out there for us to digest (no pun intended). If you really want to know what CJD is all about, this is the perfect place to start. You'll wind up knowing more than you probably wanted to. Should be required reading for all adults, highly recommended.

A page-turner of the highest caliber. Not only is the science described masterfully, it is complete with tales of grisly cannabalism, Machiavellian scheming, and selfless sacrifice. It also takes us into the world of industrial meat processing--places our culture would rather pretend doesn't exist.With this book, you can immerse yourself in the adventures of Carleton Gajdusek as he integrates into (and comes to prefer) a Stone-Age cannibalistic culture in New Guinea. Gajdusek is the legitimate pioneer in the field of prion research and theory, a true scientist who sacrificed much, gave fair credit to his colleagues and collaborators, and was ever skeptical even of his own work. ... The biggest thing I walked away from with this book, was not the question of whether we're all going to die from prion diseases, but rather, "I wonder just how pervasive this kind of unseen political scheming occurs in other walks of life?" ... The book is also chock-full of quite amazing science--new and amazing biological concepts that you are sure to have never heard of. The "prion" problem, if the theories are correct, is stunningly simple (even elegant). This book explains it in very accessible terms (at one time using Vonnegut's "Ice 9" as a really great metaphor), but not in a way that panders or insults. You feel like you understand the theories in their entirety, with all angles explored, but are not lost in incomprehensible jargon. You also gain an appreciation for the hard work, hair-pulling, creativity, "eureka" moments, scientific rigor, and self-doubt that goes into this field and other scientific fields. Readable by science idiots and savants alike.Other reviews of this book note the doomsday nature of it's ending, with dire predictions. Well I disagree. There are no "predictions". Only possible--but not necessarily likely--scenarios. Most importantly, the predictions are not unavoidable. ...

Richard Rhodes is without a doubt one of the most talented writers of nonfiction today. Time after time he has impressed me with his interesting and readable accounts of subjects ranging from The Making of the Atomic Bomb to Why They Kill. In Deadly Feasts, Rhodes has once again written a wonderful book.In the late 1990's there was a slew of books published on the subject of disease and the possibilities of biological warfare thanks in no small part to Richard Preston's magnificent The Hot Zone. In The Hot Zone Preston writes with an almost fictional intensity about a class of viruses that kill in a quick and horrifying fashion. It was The Hot Zone that brought Ebola to the public consciousness. Rhodes' book, too, is about killer illnesses but of a different type. The Hot Zone presents us with what are, despite their horribleness, rather exotic diseases. Deadly Feasts presents us relentlessly fatal diseases that might very well already be infiltrating our Western population through that most dangerous source--our food supply.Rhodes' book presents the links between a disease called kuru which was passed through the women and children in aboriginal tribes in New Guinea and a rare disease that Westerners may be picking up through, you guessed it, the so-called "mad-cow disease." Kuru was transferred by human cannibalism and the disease was eliminated by stopping this practice. Mad-cow disease is passed by the "cannibalism" of cows by humans.Preston's book is highly intense because of the visible horror of the symptoms he describes and the speed with which victims are overcome. Rhodes' book has an intensity that builds as he describes the progression of diseases that may need decades to incubate in humans before they show symptoms that will whittle them down over the course of months to fatality. The horror that Rhodes describes is of diseases which are 100% fatal that some of us here in the West may have already contracted but will not see signs of for many years. And we have contracted it through eating tainted meat.But Rhodes' book is about more than the horror of disease and the dangers of our food supply. Deadly Feasts is about real science. Not the science that scientists and historians like to present to us that lull people into thinking science is a perfect, logical progression. Rhodes shows us science for what it is: investigation and guesswork, supported by experiment and influenced by politics and the personalities of scientists. Mistakes are made as well as reputations. Egos play a role. Wild ideas make their way into fact and, at this point, still no one knows whether these diseases are caused by something virus-like or a new "killer protein." As a science teacher, I can't help but like this book a lot.I've heard some people say that this book turned them into a vegetarian. Well, it didn't do that to me but, then again, I'm not the type. What it did do was make me appreciate Richard Rhodes' skill as a writer once again

Richard Rhodes writes an exceedingly good book. He organizes this hard to swallow material in an easy to follow way.I have not eaten much beef in the last year or so as I am trying to loose weight and watch my cholesterol intake.After reading Deadly Feasts, I am not sure whether I want to ever eat any meat again, but if the facts are correct, being vegetarian only lessens the chances of being infected.I was appalled at the lack of care given the continued innoculation of children with growth hormones. I've always suspected that some medical practioners do not live up to their oath, but this is something that actually proves that.The governments don't seem any too keen to come up against major industries for the sake of the people they govern.I say this is a book you must read. You will probably not want to read it, but on the other hand you won't be able to put it down due to its pertinence to all of us.This book is scary, but very necessary. This information was out there when Oprah was being sued. It definitely proves a point