Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease Obituary
In the Sunday May 18 New York Times an obituary was published for Joanie
Westie, a "Big Star in the World of Roller Derbies" who died May 10 at age
62. The interesting part is that, according to her husband, Nick Scopas,
she died of a "rare brain disease", you guessed it, Creutzfeldt-Jacob
disease. The Times makes no further mention of the cause of death, nor does
it remind its readers that this is the same disease that caused such a furor
among the French when a few of their citizens died of it. The reason for
the French ire was of course that scientists believe that CJ disease is
linked to Mad Cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy)
The furor resulted in the banning of British beef from import into the EU and the collapse of the British beef industry. This was reported on the front page of the New York Times. Is it that NYT editors don't read their own articles, or are they just being loyal protectors for agri-business interests?
And I also wonder if the family is aware of the CJ - Mad Cow connection? If not, may be somebody in California should tell them (or their attorney). They live in Hayward California, near San Francisco. In addition to her husband, Ms. Westie was survived by two step children - Tracy Munoz of Hayward and Nick Scopas Jr. of Manteca CA.
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