Synopses & Reviews
Science, propaganda and the meat you eat.
"Some of the best investigative reporting around". -- San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Every bit as mind-blowing as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring". -- Bill McKibben, Hungry Mind Review
After a decade of denial, the British government stunned the world in 1996 by admitting that the deadly dementia affecting its beef and dairy herds was "the most likely cause" of a new, equally deadly human disease which may have already infected millions of people. In the United States, meanwhile, official spokespersons continue to mislead the public with reassurances that the disease isn't happening and can't happen here. Mad Cow USA tells you the truth, based on extensive research and government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Mad Cow USA looks at the scientists and science behind a rare and capricious class of diseases that have baffled researchers for centuries. It follows the career of eccentric doctor Carleton Gajdusek through his Nobel Prize-winning explorations of a devastating epidemic among human cannibals in Papua New Guinea. It charts the rise to prominence of Stanley Prusiner, once derided as a charlatan for his "prion" theory which "commits heresy against the central dogma of modern biology". It shows how other scientists' careers have risen and fallen based on their willingness to parrot government and industry assurances that your food is safe.
Mad Cow USA tells a scary story, and the scariest part of all is the picture it paints of scientific and government ignorance, arrogance and reckless technological tampering with the human food supply. It shows you where science, politics andmodern industry collide -- on your dinner plate.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-238) and index.