As I seem to recall, organophosphates were implicated by some in causing “mad cow” prion formation.
Very interesting...
Science is still terribly ignorant about prions. Apparently, by a normal process, they are created commonly from proteins in the body, and in turn, those proteins convert other proteins into identical prions. And then typically, other natural processes in the body destroy these prions as well. No harm takes place in this process.
But then a deadly prion emerges, formed from a protein that causes a destructive action, and converts other proteins to do the same, *and* is not destroyed by the body.
And for some reason these deadly prions are terribly hard to destroy. Ordinary cooking won’t destroy them. Typically they are neutralized by a combination of enzymes and detergents. Protein-prions are too simple to have genetic material in them.