The Mad Cow Panic

Behind the British Beef Scare
The European Union has banned imports of British beef. McDonald's has pulled British Big Macs from its menu. And British farmers are wondering who's going to buy their 11-million cows. This edition of The Why Files looks behind the horrific headlines to the sane science of mad cow madness.

What's the latest from the mad cow front?
"The new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) ... is related to BSE and distinct from all other forms of the disease." in humans (Just release just in from Nature, the British science journal.) [posted 10/23/96].
cow in field Look mom, no genes! Can this infectious disease be transmitted without DNA or RNA?
If your idea of a three-star dining experience is grandma mignon, read this first.
What's to prevent me from getting a brain disease from eating beef?
Got books, magazines, and web sites on theseugly diseases. Who dunnit (this article, I mean)? Who fact-checked it (ditto)? The answer is just a mouse-click away.