Infectious Processes: Knowledge, Discourse, and the Politics of Prions (Science, Technology and Medicine in Modern History)

✍ Scribed by Eve Seguin

• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 206
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The BSE or "mad cow disease" crisis is regarded by many as an example of the failure of officials and politicians to handle risk situations. Yet, BSE is also characterized by a unique trait, that is, the infectious agent that causes it. Thus far, no one has paid attention to the fact that BSE and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are allegedly caused by a novel agent--a prion--distinct from all other known infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. The prion hypothesis was introduced by the American scientist Stanley Prusiner in 1982. It immediately created a controversy among scientists and is still rejected by some. Yet, despite this lack of consensus in the scientific community, Prusiner was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1997. This book analyzes the introduction, reception, development and consequences of the prion hypothesis. It shows that BSE is a unique case not only in virtue of its political mismanagement but also because its infectious agent has created a form of revolution in biology.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Figures......Page 7
List of Tables......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Notes on the Contributors......Page 11
List of Abbreviations......Page 13
Introduction: Prions?......Page 16
1 The Early History of the Protein-only Hypothesis: Scientific Change and Multidisciplinary Research......Page 19
2 Styles of Scientific Practice and the Prion Controversy......Page 53
3 Paradigm Change? Explaining the Nature of the TSE Agent in Germany......Page 88
4 Visualizing Prions: Graphic Representations and the Biography of Prions......Page 114
5 Prion Research and the Public Sphere in France......Page 150
6 The UK BSE Crisis and the Prion Discursive Chain in Scientific Literature......Page 176
Conclusion: the Prion Case......Page 201
N......Page 204
P......Page 205
V......Page 206