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Agroterrorism: Options in Congress
Title: “Agroterrorism: Options in Congress”
Institution: Congressional Research Service
Author: Alejandro E. Segarra
Date: December 19, 2001
Bibliographic Entry: Segarra, Alejandro E. “Agroterrorism: Options in Congress.” CRS Report for Congress. December 19, 2001.
Electronic Link: http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/crsdocuments/RL31217_12192001.pdf
Key Words: Agroterrorism, bioterrorism, USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), FMD (Foot and Mouth Disease), agriculture, farming, direct economic losses, indirect costs and multiplier effects, livestock targets, crop targets, animal diseases, OCPM (Office of Crisis Planning and Management), APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service), ARS (Agricultural Research Service), biosecurity
Summary of Key Issues, Points, Conclusions:
The goal of agroterrorism is to damage the biological and agricultural infrastructure of a nation. There are two types of economic effects:
- Direct Economic Losses- cost of destroying disease stricken livestock and crops and cost of disease containment.
- Indirect Costs and Multiplier Effects- Disorder in agricultural sectors relying on agriculture (transportation and retail) and from the loss of export markets (trading partners embargoing particular U.S. agricultural products).
Explanations why agriculture is or would be a potentially good target for terrorism:
- Some biological agents used for possible attacks on agriculture are not harmful to the terrorists. With readily available information, terrorists can match lists of diseases to a targeted livestock and crop to choose an option that is the most accessible to their means.
- To satisfy product demands, the current system set up for production and trading of livestock side steps the natural barriers that are in place for slowing pathogenic spreading.
- An “internationally quarantineable” disease or pest would halt all United States exports and would disrupt the economy intensely. In addition, heightened security concerns would force unexpected expenses on the nation’s farming community.
- Success of keeping diseases out of the country for a long period of time depends on the veterinarians and producers ability to quickly recognize symptoms of the diseases. Also, animals are not typically vaccinated against certain diseases and therefore are easy susceptible to them, leading vaccinations to not be readily available in time of contamination.
Name of Researcher: Allison McFarland
Institution: ICHS- Texas A&M University
Date: July 11, 2005