Agroterrorism

1

• Agroterrorism
• Presented by

2

• What is it?
• Agroterrorism involves the act of any person
  knowingly or maliciously using biological agents
  as weapons against the agricultural industry and
  the food supply.

3

• People and Animal Problems
• Anthrax
• Brucellosis
• Glanders

4

• Animal Problems
• Rinderpest
• Newcastle disease
• Fowl plague

5

• Crop Problems
• Late blight of potato
• Rice blast
• Brown spot of rice
• Rubber leaf blight
• Southern blight
• Wheat rusts.

6

• Agroterrorism
• Possibility?
• Probability?

7

• Possibility or Probability
• The critical issue with agroterrorism is the
  low level of technical knowledge required to use
  it.

8

• Possibility or Probability
• Before Sept. 11 -- the federal government
  allocated almost 40 million to the USDA for
  agroterrorism.

9

• Motives include
• Profit
• Anti-GMO
• Foreign terrorists

10

• Concerns before Sept. 11
• Indiana PL156
• Pennsylvania SB816

11

• Indiana Law recognizes agroterrorism as
• A crime Class C Felony
• A weapon of mass destruction

12

• Pennsylvania Law
• Mandates payment to the owner of the afflicted
  animal for
  
• Value of the animal
• Disposal
• Testing of the diseased animals
• Cost of clean up, including soil testing
• Lost value of production

13

• Costs?
• Foot and Mouth -- 2 billion to 24 billion.
  The problem is that this is based on a natural
  outbreak. A terrorist would aim for maximum
  damage.

14

• Costs?
• Dioxin contaminated animal feed in Belgium --
  1 billion in damages and trade sanctions. If it
  had been in the US, 140 billion.

15

• Costs?
• Leaf blight caused 1 billion in crop damages.
  But if something like it had halted US crop
  exports, it could cost 100 billion.

16

• Experts agree
• The cost in terms of damages is directly
  proportional to the time it takes to diagnose the
  problem.

17

• Proof?
• It has rarely been proven that terrorism has been
  used against agricultural targets.
  
• But lets look at history

18

• History of agroterrorism
• WWI Germany spread glanders disease on mules
  and horses destined for Europe.

19

• History of agroterrorism
• WWII
• Canada, Great Britain, Japan, the United States,
  and the USSR had offensive programs.
  
• Germany had no offensive program.

20

• History of agroterrorism
• Japan is alleged to have used animal and plant
  pathogens, including rinderpest and anthrax,
  against Russia and Mongolia in 1940s.

21

• History of agroterrorism
• The U.S. scrubbed its biological weapons
  program in 1969. But, it continued defensive
  research.

22

• History of agroterrorism
• In 1972, the US, Soviet Union, Great Britain,
  and Canada agreed to the Biological Weapons
  Convention (BWC).

23

• History of agroterrorism
• Soviet BW program grew during the 1970s and
  1980s to include more than 30,000 scientists and
  workers, as well as seven production and two
  storage facilities.

24

• History of agroterrorism
• Iraq is also known to have developed a BW
  potential recently, including anti-personnel,
  animal and crop agents.

25

• History of agroterrorism
• Since 1915, there have been 19 acts of
  agroterrorism around the world, five of which
  have taken place in the U.S. Sourcehttp//cns.m
  iis.edu/ Center for Nonproliferation Studies

26

• Five cases in the US
• 1915-1917 Military animals
• 1970 Ashville, Alabama
• 1989 Southern California
• 1996 Florida
• 1996 Berlin, Wisconsin

27

• Conducted by the US
• 1950 East Germany
• 1952 Korea
• 1962-1970 Vietnam
• 1962-1997 Cuba

28

• Counterattack
• Geography
• Timing
• Strategy

29

• USDA Counterattack
• Organism Level
• Farm Level
• National Level

30

• Organism level
• Continue defensive research on agroterrorism.

31

• Farm Level
• Biosecurity education
• - farmers
• - crop and livestock diagnosticians.

32

• National Level
• Disease eradication
• Compensation costs
• Restore public confidence

33

• Counterattack
• Cooperation and consolidation of efforts between
  all agencies and organizations involved.
  

34

• Sources
• Anne Kohnen Responding to the Threat of
  Agroterrorism Specific recommendations for the
  United States Department of Agriculture.
  
• May 2001 issue of Purdue Agricultural Economics
  Report (PAER).
  
• Center For Nonproliferation Studies at the
  Monterey Institute of International Studies