Beginning at the scene of a cannibal feast in New Guinea that spread a fatal illness to all who participated, this book follows the trail of a group of related human and animal diseases spreading around the world. Collectively they have come to be called prion diseases, the best-known being mad-cow disease, and already it is believed by some in Britain and elsewhere in Europe that there is danger in eating beef, and possibly also lamb, venison, pork and chicken. The author raises the spectre of what he contends is an ineradicable, untreatable, fatal disease whose spread is insidious and, unless urgent action is taken, unstoppable. The book calls into question the wisdom of transplants and the safety of milk, meat, gelatine, soap, surgical sutures, supplements in processed foods, and even leather goods and common garden bonemeal. Rhodes's other books include The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Dark Sun, Nuclear Renewal and A Hole in the World.