031150 Food Supply Vulnerable to Terrorist Attack

Washington (Scripps Howard Foundation Wire) - If a terrorist wanted to introduce a biological agent that would taint the United States' food supply, a state fair might be the place to start.

With easy access to a variety of animals living in close quarters, all the terrorist would have to do is rub a handkerchief contaminated with foot and mouth disease on an animal or its food. The disease has a three- to five-day incubation period and might not be discovered until after the animals were sold or taken back to the farm.

Senators learned Wednesday that the United States' food supply is not secure against terrorist attacks and the agriculture industry is vulnerable at a number of levels.

The Government Affairs Committee heard testimony that even a relatively small outbreak of foot and mouth disease or other biological agents could be devastating. An outbreak could result in food contamination, human and animal deaths and billions of dollars lost.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who asked the question about the state fair scenario, said that hundreds of pages of U.S. agricultural documents were recovered from al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan last year. She said it's an indication that terrorists recognize agriculture as a target.

"Nothing is more at the heart and core of our economy than our agriculture and food industry," Collins said. "It is a $1-trillion economic sector that creates one-sixth of our gross national product."

Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., said that, although "our nation's food supply is the safest, most abundant and affordable food supply in the world," there is a need for heightened security to prevent foreign agricultural pests and diseases from getting into the United States.

"We all know that the U.S. agriculture industry, especially the livestock sector, is highly concentrated," Talent said. "Large groups of animals share close quarters on the farm, during transportation and at the processing facilities."

More than 30 agencies would respond if there were outbreaks of a disease among livestock. Collins said she is afraid there would be confusion with that many agencies involved.

Witnesses from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Homeland Security and the Food and Drug Administration said the agencies are working to create a unified response plan in case of an outbreak.

Penrose Albright, assistant secretary for science and technology for the Department of Homeland Security, said the advent of the new department is forcing officials to revisit many issues.

"We're looking at existing vulnerability assessments," Albright said. "I don’t think we can say we've looked at the entire sector, but we've looked at parts."

Peter Chalk, an associate political scientist for the RAND Corporation, said all steps of food processing need to be examined. He said there are security risks from farms to food processing to food packaging.

"Agriculture is both a large-scale and intensive business in the United States," Chalk said. "U.S. livestock has become progressively more disease prone in recent years as a result of husbandry changes that have been introduced to increase the quality and quantity of meat production."

Chalk said a plan needs to be in place because "the ramifications of a concerted bio-assault on the U.S. meat and food base would be far-reaching and could extend beyond the immediate agricultural community."

Collins said she wants recommendations from government agencies and interest groups for any new laws or about any laws that need changing to protect the food supply.

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