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Experts Warn of Ease of Attack on U.S. Food Supply
Experts warned a U.S. Senate panel yesterday that it would be easy for terrorists to conduct primitive and effective attacks on the U.S. food supply and the agriculture industry, according to Knight-Ridder (see GSN, Oct. 15). Pathogens that cause animal diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, are easy to obtain and can be spread quickly, Tom McGinn, director of emergency programs for the North Carolina Agriculture and Consumer Services Department, told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. For example, if terrorists chose to attack a small number of livestock herds with foot-and-mouth disease, the disease could spread to 23 states in five days, causing billions of dollars of damage, McGinn said. “Agriculture is the perfect target and the perfect weapon,” McGinn said. “Imagine what it would be like to become a nation concerned about opening our refrigerators?” he added. Peter Chalk, an analyst with RAND, said the U.S. agriculture industry and food supply would probably remain lesser targets for terrorists. He added, however, that consolidation in the agriculture industry has concentrated large amounts of livestock in a small number of places, making them more susceptible to disease (Andrew Martin, Knight-Ridder/Oklahoma Daily, Nov. 20).
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