France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes • Hacker News Board

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#21

Post by pc86 » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:39 PM UTC

me_me_me wrote: post #10

tinus_hn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They 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.

Yes, they should stop potentially lethal research procedures to see how they can prevent them. Its not rocket science.

The 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.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#22

Post by DoingIsLearning » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

meepmorp wrote: post #8

imglorp wrote: post #6

> She had not been trained in handling dangerous prions or responding to accidents and did not wear both metal mesh and surgical gloves, as she was supposed to, says Julien Bensimhon, the family’s lawyer. The thumb should have been soaked in a bleach solution immediately, which did not happen, Bensimhon adds. Does bleach even affect proteins? Isn't that protocol for an organism you're afraid of?

Hypochlorous acid denatures proteins, so yeah.

But wasn't there an issue before of prion contamination with surgical instruments used in ophtalmic surgery.

I am sure those would have been autoclaved and reprocessed at some ridiculous pH value, no?

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#23

Post by chrbarrol » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

Has there been any research on Prions as a bio-terrorism weapon? It sounds like you could infect thousands/millions and have a close to 100% death-rate without anyone noticing until many years after the contamination started.

Imaging contaminating food/drinking water with the Prion which causes Kuru [1] for example.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#24

Post by choeger » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

gonzo41 wrote: post #18

AbrahamParangi wrote: post #9

The study of rare, contagious diseases seems likely enough to result in an eventual outbreak that it should be treated like enriching uranium. Which is to say, with great caution- and not like regular science but rather like the kind of science with potentially very negative externalities.

Welcome to the exciting world of duel use microbiology research. There's plenty of people are doing stuff that walks the line between learning new things and creating ways to weaponize germs. It's all a question of good governance.

> duel use microbiology research

This typo demands an xkcd!

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#25

Post by choeger » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:43 PM UTC

Tsarbomb wrote: post #16

circlefavshape wrote: post #13

prions sounds very much like ice-nine

That is an excellent way of thinking about them. For anyone unfamiliar, OP is referring to the Kurt Vonnegut novel which has a fictional state of water (ice-nine) that immediately freezes all other water it comes into contact with into more ice-nine. Edit: I committed a sin and didn't mention the title: Cat's Cradle.

There must be some kind of counter-agent, or life as we know it would not exist.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#26

Post by nemetroid » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:43 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #21

me_me_me wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they should stop potentially lethal research procedures to see how they can prevent them. Its not rocket science.

The 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.

Your 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.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#27

Post by riffraff » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:44 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #21

me_me_me wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they should stop potentially lethal research procedures to see how they can prevent them. Its not rocket science.

The 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.

I 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".

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#28

Post by nosianu » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #21

me_me_me wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they should stop potentially lethal research procedures to see how they can prevent them. Its not rocket science.

The 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.

That 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.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#29

Post by Omavel » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

chrbarrol wrote: post #23

Has there been any research on Prions as a bio-terrorism weapon? It sounds like you could infect thousands/millions and have a close to 100% death-rate without anyone noticing until many years after the contamination started. Imaging contaminating food/drinking water with the Prion which causes Kuru [1] for example. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)

bio-terrorism is not effective.

Re: France issues moratorium on prion research after fatal brain disease strikes

#30

Post by marcodiego » Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

Scary.

I think and airborne human transmissible prion disease that kill in a few years is the kind of event that can bring our society back to prehistoric living in just a few decades. Hope it never happens.