Economies
and social systems are inextricably connected
and interdependent, as transnational economic
activities spur local responses; for instance, basically
invisible (and all but invulnerable) life
forms called ‘prions’ can result in ‘bovine
spongiform encephalopathy’ (a degenerative
and fatal brain disease, or Creutzfeldt-Jacob
syndrome in cattle, or what is popularly referred
to as ‘mad cow’ disease), a local event that affects
the food supply of nations oceans away, upsetting
international commerce and threatening
public health regimes.