Bill Oliver wrote:

More important, please cite the actual calculated risk (for example, see:
Dealler S. Transfus Med. 1996 Sep;6(3):217-22 A matter for debate: the risk
of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans posed by blood transfusion in
the UK.)

It's one thing to trumpet a theoretical risk. It's another to look at what
the risk actually *is.*

billo

Regarding the risk of transmission of BSE/vCJD by blood transfusion in
the U.S.:

1. What doofus would rely on a 1996 paper for an assessment of risk of
transmission? The link between BSE and vCJD was not recognized until
1996. Even now, our "ignorance is encyclopedic."

2. In the words of the National Acadamies of Science report entitled
"Advancing Prion Science (published in 2004)":

"These studies provide some assurances for the lack of blood
transmission of TSE agents, but the inherent deficiencies of
epidemiological approaches, the rarity of the conditions, the difficulty
of correctly diagnosing true cases, and the long incubation period prior
to case expression make these assurances both tentative and infirm. This
is particularly true for assessing the risk of transmitting the vCJD
agent through the transfusion of blood or one of its derivatives since
this is such a new TSE."

3. Consequently, Mr. Oliver, you ask a question that only a FOOL would
consider answerable at this time.

So, what's your answer? ;-)