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Back to CORRESPONDENCE Homepage Dear Sir, Does benzene poisoning cause scrapie?My correspondence of the 9th January entitled "Does benzene poisoning cause scrapie?" (1) was not intended to suggest benzene poisoning is the sole cause of scrapie. So-called TSE's (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies) can only be demonstrated to be transmissible with great difficulty. There is therefore a body of opinion that concludes the diseases are degenerative conditions influenced by a variety of environmental factors. Professor Ebringer suggests bacteria as a factor (2) and he may well be correct. My suggestion of benzene as a factor is supported by a number of circumstances including current day geographical location of disease "hot spots" in the UK and Scandinavian. We must also be aware that only a small percentage of "scrapie" cases are ever conclusively proven as such. It would therefore be reasonable to suggest that at least some of the reported cases are misdiagnosed lead poisoning (saturnine encephalopathy) or copper deficiency (swayback). William M Snape BSc
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Scrapie statistics for Great Britain