It is interesting, and the role of copper hasn’t been ignored in the research though it generally occurs at the molecular level. My background is wildlife health and disease, though not specifically nutrition. I’ll work through my logic. Not picking a fight, just working through my rationale for sake of discussion.
If, hypothetically, there was a widespread deficiency in copper, there are numerous other health or disease issues that we would expect to see crop up both in livestock using the same range and in wild cervids. We just don’t see a pattern like that. In my former job, we submitted hundreds, if not thousands, of samples from feedground elk as well as free-ranging cervids over the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains region and have never seen large-scale patterns of abnormalities in metals. To me, that just doesn’t really point to a copper deficiency of the magnitude necessary to account for the modern distribution of CWD.
There has certainly been research regarding copper binding and prions. It has been understood for quite a while that copper ions are involved in protein folding. I was curious where that stands now, so googled to see the status of current research. Found this article, which provides a pretty decent synopsis.
In short, all of the research points to PrP having a roll in copper binding and/or regulation or modulation of copper levels in the body. That’s progress, because no one knew what the heck normal prion proteins even did for a long time. But half the research suggests copper stabilizes prions, and half suggests it might actually cause beta folding. So there is no agreement at all as to whether copper is good, or bad with regard to prion diseases.
I also don’t see a compelling explanation or data to suggest a continent-wide shift in copper of such a magnitude as to cause explosion of a disease in a few decades, with no other evidence of a new proliferation of copper deficiency. That intuitively doesn’t make sense but maybe that’s not really what you are suggesting either.
I totally acknowledge I am jaded on this subject at this point, but I am highly skeptical whenever someone suggests the cause of CWD is something simple and fundamental. Particularly when the “cure” is only really supported by one party (and no real data) with a financial interest in said cure, or when the cure justifies a behavior (in this case, artificial feeding and supplements) that is widely considered to be detrimental with regard to the problem in question.
I don’t know what the cure will be for CWD, but I am not optimistic it will be something simple.
