Jill-Patrice Cassuto

From Mad Cow Disease to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Jill-Patrice Cassuto examines the precursors of BSE and reviews some of the early research into the disease. He also studies the human form of BSE, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, and addresses the highly controversial question of ways the disease may be transmitted. This book is not only a scientific overview of current knowledge about BSE. It is also a thorough inquiry into the BSE scare and an examination of the issue of responsibility and of how health issues and risks are dealt with within the European Community. Jill-Patrice Cassuto teaches medicine and heads a clinical hematology service in a university hospital.

Maxime Schwartz

How the Cows Became Mad

Fear of the condition popularly known as “mad cow” disease has created a state of collective hysteria: some consumers are so afraid of contracting the disease that they have stopped eating beef; others haven’t stopped eating beef simply because they believe it is too late to do anything to prevent catching the illness. This book examines the outbreak of this disease and concludes with the reply to the question that is on everyone’s lips: Should we be afraid? Maxime Schwartz teaches at the Institut Pasteur, in Paris.

Philippe Kourilsky, Geneviève Viney

The Precautionary Principle

Philippe Kourilsky

The Right Usage of the Precautionary Principle

The precautionary principle is a term so frequently repeated in most spheres of public life that it has become something of a mantra. And yet it remains controversial and has been given many different, and often contradictory, interpretations by its supporters and opponents. For these reasons, the author argues that it is essential to clarify the way the term is used, and this forms the basis of this work. Philippe Kourilsky is the head of the Institut Pasteur and a member of the French Academy of Science.