We worked out to produce these hormones (or equivalent compounds) synthetically, so we no longer need to extract them from the brains of deceased humans, a procedure which risks transmitting disease.
Not just human growth hormone, also other hormones used to be derived this way, e.g. those used to induce ovulation in fertility treatment.
I know someone who received cadaver-derived fertility hormones in the 1980s. She has a small risk of developing CJD and dying from it. It hasn't happened yet, and probably never will, but no one can say for sure if she is infected. If you don't develop symptoms (some people are infected but never progress, others suddenly develop symptoms one day after decades of being asymptomatic), the only way to know for sure if you had it is at autopsy, through destructive testing of brain tissues.
Not just human growth hormone, also other hormones used to be derived this way, e.g. those used to induce ovulation in fertility treatment.
I know someone who received cadaver-derived fertility hormones in the 1980s. She has a small risk of developing CJD and dying from it. It hasn't happened yet, and probably never will, but no one can say for sure if she is infected. If you don't develop symptoms (some people are infected but never progress, others suddenly develop symptoms one day after decades of being asymptomatic), the only way to know for sure if you had it is at autopsy, through destructive testing of brain tissues.