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Time to become a vegetarian.

I do think it's prudent to be as informed on this topic as possible. But giving up all meat is something I'd like to avoid. Steak is one of life's little pleasures.

The danger of e. coli contamination is far greater than the possibility that a few stray prions, a form of twisted protein, get into the food chain. Let us look at this logically. Most beef consumed is cooked, which tends to denature protein molecules. Further, when proteins pass through the human digestive system, they are broken down into the constituent amino acids, and do not enter the blood stream as a whole protein, no matter how twisted. Lastly, there is a barrier between the blood and the neurologic tissue, brain and nerve fibers, that filters out any unrecognized organic substances, which is a major factor in homeostatic health.

There may be an unrecognized agent that causes the proteins to twist into the prions which are characteristic of CJD and BSE. We have not yet discovered it. It may be a virus, or some bacterium that is normally considered to be benign, and is only activated under certain combinations of circumstances not yet identified. Or it may be a genetic disorder within certain genotypes that only appears when certain environmental factors are present.