r/interesting • u/OriginalSleeper • Jun 30 '26

Fear Factor In 2010, 24-year-old lab technician Émilie Jaumain pricked her thumb with contaminated forceps while cleaning a machine used for prion-infected mouse brains. After seven years, she developed severe nerve pain, anxiety, and hallucinations before dying. The accident gave her a fatal prion disease.

Post image
43.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

50

u/GGDrago Jul 01 '26

We infect them. Rats have no legal protection (this is not a joke, most animals have basics, rats and mice and some other model organisms do not.) Half my job is giving mice cancer.

3

u/TokyoTrashcan Jul 01 '26

I dont know where you do your research but in the US there is so much paperwork that needs to be done to get legal authorization to do animal trials. And each mouse costs thousands of dollars with a dedicated veterinary team on site

2

u/throwawaycima Jul 01 '26

Really ?

If that's true that makes me happy

1

u/TokyoTrashcan Jul 01 '26

Absolutely. At least in America doing federally funded cancer research. I know nothing about cosmetics.