Effects Of Agroterrorism In Agriculture

Register to read the introduction… As defined by the Rand Corporation (3), agroterrorism is “the deliberate introduction of a disease agent, either against livestock or into the food chain, for the purposes of undermining socioeconomic stability and/or generating fear. Depending on the disease agent and pathogenic vector chosen, agroterrorism is a tactic that can be used either to cause mass socioeconomic disruption or as a form of direct human aggression”. The Department of Homeland Security defines agricultural bioterrorism as an intentional attack on agriculture or the food system using a disease causing agent. Agroterrorism might lack the high visual impacts of large high yield explosives (nuclear or conventional) and may or may not result in thousands of people seeking urgent medical care; however, it remains an insidious form of terror. If perpetrated within the continental US or near our forces deployed in a combat theater, agroterrorism could strategically impact our ability as a nation to ensure the security and safety of our citizens and the ability to execute military missions as directed by our civilian leaders. An agroterrorism attack on our deployed forces could be both debilitating and demoralizing, thus challenging a combatant commander’s ability to field an effective combat force. Citizenry confidence in the government’s ability to govern and ensure basic securities could be jeopardized. Economic impacts of an attack could be tremendous and require years for full recovery. Historical Perspective: Agroterrorism is not a new post 9/11 concept. From the use of rye ergot by the Assyrians (4) in 6th Century B.C to poison the wells of their enemies, improvised and refined biological agents have been used by armies and terrorist to influence the behavior of others. Since 1912, there have been twelve documented cases involving the sub-state use of pathogenic agents to infect livestock or contaminate a related produce. Agroterrorism can take many forms and be carried out in a variety of ways. Toxins, pathogens and bacteria may be introduced into the food production system, either in our large plant based agricultural markets or into our livestock or commercial poultry flocks. These potential introductions could result in massive herd culling, a need to destroy processed goods and create a requirement for extensive decontamination efforts of both production facilities and livestock containment facilities. These scenarios present a clear threat to the American reliance on a safe and inexpensive food supply. What are the Threats? Since 9/11, the threat of agroterrorism has been widely discussed in forums ranging from emergency response planners to congressional oversight committees. …show more content…
In May 2005, the House of Representatives held hearings to specifically evaluate the threat of agroterrorism. (5) Based upon the testimony provided, the committee concluded the threat is real and that the intelligence community must do a better job of relaying threat information down to the state and local level. Concerns were expressed during testimony regarding Al Qaeda training manuals recovered in Afghanistan which specifically identified the targeting of agriculture as a means to impact a nation’s economic stature. Threats of agroterrorism can be divided into two general areas: intentional introduction of a foreign animal disease (FAD) pathogen into our livestock and or commercial poultry flocks; or directed attacks against our food production system, where a pathogen or some other type of contaminant is introduced into a given food sector to render it inedible or poisonous. FADs are transmissible diseases thought to be absent from the United States. Our systems of agriculture and food production provide significant vulnerabilities to terrorist attack both in our methods of animal management and traditional food production. Due to the vulnerabilities created by the openness of our systems, great opportunity …show more content…
Agriculture is a trillion dollar industry in the US; estimates range as high as 1 out of every 6 jobs in the United States having some direct or indirect link to agriculture. Because of our advanced and extremely productive agriculture system, Americans spend less that 11% of their disposable income on food, compared with a global average of 20-30 %. Should our food supply be constrained, this percentage could increase dramatically. Nearly 10% of all US exports are agriculture related products. A serious FAD outbreak would immediately shut down relevant export markets which total more than $50 Billion annually. Concerns regarding the safety of US agricultural products would impact the role of the US in the global