4 ms·
The article talks about the case of Émilie Jaumain that got contaminated by prion while cleaning a device used to slice mouse brains. She died 9 years later of
by ta988 5y ago
The article talks about the case of Émilie Jaumain that got contaminated by prion while cleaning a device used to slice mouse brains. She died 9 years later of a prion disease. After several cases of exposure across the world, France decided to block prion research for 3 months to try to study the issue.
- tinus_hn 5y agoThey are going to stop studying so they can start studying the issue? Ah well, this is the level of ‘science’ we’ve come to expect in the pandemic.
- Reventlov 5y agoNo, they're gonna stop studying until they have reviewed all the security protocols regarding the handling of prions, and this, nationwide.
- aqsalose 5y agoThere are reviews and then there are reviews: Rubber stamp security reviews happen. I don't know much about this particular case, but I think, in general, a trustworthy review needs to be conducted by an independent body with genuine power (edit. and desire) to order things to halt permanently if they can not be made safe enough (and then there is a separate question of who makes the call "what is safe enough").
- bluGill 5y ago>(and then there is a separate question of who makes the call "what is safe enough"). This is hard. If there isn't the right incentive they can decide nothing is safe enough. This ensures safety now, but it means that if a cure is possible it won't be discovered (or anything else useful from the research). The FDA has been accused of needlessly holding up useful drugs on this grounds (I'm not going to comment on if true or not)
- antattack 5y agoThey want to make sure that disease did not come from other places than the lab, which would be a concern to the general public. However unlikely, it's a possibility that has to be eliminated.
- me_me_me 5y agoYes, they should stop potentially lethal research procedures to see how they can prevent them. Its not rocket science.
- pc86 5y agoThe above comment is idiotic, yes, but so is this response by France. She cut herself while cleaning a blade, something that doesn't seem so wildly uncommon that an entire nation should stop research on an entire class of diseases because of it.
- nemetroid 5y agoYour reasoning seems backwards to me. If she had hurt herself through some unlikely and intricate series of events, a shutdown would have made less sense.
- riffraff 5y agoI believe the issue is that the kind of precautions they're using were based on some assumptions (e.g. that mouse prions do not affect humans) which were flawed and need to be re-evaluated. It's not just "don't cut yourself, duh".
- nosianu 5y agoThat was not the case that prompted this reaction, so I don't understand the reasoning behind your comment? The case that prompted this reaction is described in the first paragraph of the linked article. The one you refer to in the second one as an older case. There is no mention of the older case having lead to any shutdowns, making it hard to follow your train of thoughts, since you specifically refer to this older case.
- smolder 5y agoMaybe researchers who kill themselves with dangerous infectious agents are a sign that precautions are inadequate and deserve scrutiny.
- ashtonkem 5y agoAt the minimum, some new safety protocols might be needed.