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Buy this book- it might save your life. There are so many interesting items in this that it must be bought and enjoyed.
On page 184 we have: "1847- Semmelweis's Hand Washing," Semmelweis was one of the saddest stories of a visionary who was before his time, and paid the price. (Don't forget to wash your hands for 15 seconds with soap and warm water.)
The following are my comments about the film "12 Monkeys," which is apropos because the film contains:
1. viruses, and 2. Ignaz Semmelweis. Further along we have, 3. "mad cow."
1.The film is about a virus. What is a virus? In short, a virus is in-between the world of the "living" and the "non-living." "Life," roughly is defined by two elements: a. metabolism and b. reproduction. Viruses are parasites, they need another living cell to reproduce, alone they do not have any metabolism as such on their own. So viruses are not "living" entities. All viruses do is reproduce themselves, making more of themselves. That is what "life" has "programed" viruses to do, reproduce themselves.
2. The film introduces us to Ignaz Semmelweis, which see. In short, a tragic story of a physician in the nineteen century who developed what came to known as the "germ theory" of diseases. (Wonderfully introduced to us in the film by the great Brad Pitt talking to "Cole" [Bruce Willis] in the mental hospital.)
3. The following is my review of the book by Michael B. A. Oldstone, "Viruses, Plagues, & History- Past, Present, and Future", which should be read. (By the way, re: "mad cow," or spongiform encephalopathies, some think it is caused by a "virus," others think it may be caused by what is now called "prions,"- "proteinaceous infectious particles," which in short are "misfolded proteins" in the brain.)
Other reviewers have said less than nice things about Professor (at the Scirpps Research Institute) Oldstone's book. I think these reviewers are missing the point of this vital book, which must be read.
Chapter 15 "Mad Cow Disease and Englishmen: Spongiform Encephalopathies-Prion Disease," is worth the price of admission alone.
There is a one and one half page quote by Stanley Prusiner (see my review of his book, "Madnes and Memory"), which should be read by everyone who eats beef.
On page 300 we have Prusiner "testified before the U.S. Congress and wrote an op-ed piece stating that the testing (for mad cow) used in this country is inadequate and that every cow should be tested."
Further there is a 2005 quote, where he states:
"Boneless steaks and roasts are probably safe to eat. The riskiest meats are ground beef, hot dogs, taco filling, and pizza toppings - the things children love. These products can come out of 'advanced meat recovery' machines ... [S]till, there's no law against them, even though a USDA study in 2002 found that only 12 percent of the processing plants it examined consistently produced meat from these machines that was free of nervous system tissue (where spongiform encephalopathies are primarily located).
A suggestion is to eat only 100% grass fed, organic beef products.
From "Chemical Evolution," (1991) by Stephen F. Mason: page 251- on prions "... the traditional prebiotic (the study of the chemical origins of living organisms) protein worlds retain their place, now as possible precursors of the more elaborate nucleic acid epoch."
See also:
National Meat Association v. Harris, Attorney General of California; this was a California case was eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 23, 2012.
see: caselaw.lp.findlaw.com, this opinion should be read.
See also: "Northeastern University Law Journal," Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 2012 (available at Amazon) for the "Notes and Comment," "California's Continued Struggle Against Nonambulatory Animal Slaughter and the Limits of Federal Preemption: 'National Meat Association v. Brown'" pp. 259-291. (There is also a footnote in this comment, #137, which discusses "PhIP's," which see, that cooking meat (except for boiling) causes "carcinogenic chemicals" in the meat.
This is case is relevant to Mr. Prusiner's book in that the main issue as presented in the court case was the humane treatment of "downer" cows and pigs in a cull-cow slaughter plant in Chino, California.
The U.S. Supreme Court Case came from the U.S. Court of Apeals for the Ninth Circuit, Primary Citation 599 F.3d. 1093 (C.A.9 (Cal.), 2010. This opinion contains much more information and should be read; and upheld the California law (which be the way was a change of the Cal Penal Code by the State Legislature). The U.S. Supreme Court reversed and sided with the Meat Association on the grounds that Federal Law trumps State (California) Law on the same issues.
In these court opinions there is no mention at all of prions or of the disease of prion proteins or of "mad cow" et. al. This case dealt with "downer" animals, which in the U.K. has caused a crisis, and leads directly to the disease of prion proteins, yet the Courts do not discuss this issue. The disease of Prion proteins is a national, worldwide public health issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided this case on the technicalities of Federal law trumping State law on the same issue and no mention at all was made of any Prion disease or "Mad Cow" disease is made in the U.S. Supreme Court decision or in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision.
- Series: Sterling Milestones
- Hardcover: 528 pages
- Publisher: Sterling; 1 edition (September 4, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9781402785856
- ISBN-13: 978-1402785856
- ASIN: 1402785852
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 1 x 9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Average Customer Review: 52 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#200,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #103 in History of Medicine (Books)
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