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Des Moines Register, The (IA)
April 12, 2001 PETA statements spark agroterrorism concerns Author: Anthan George; Washington News Bureau DM Section: Main News Page: 6A Index Terms: Gifford Sean Newkirk Ingrid Animal People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals= PETA Estimated printed pages: 4 Article Text: By GEORGE ANTHAN REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington, D.C. -An animal-rights group says that a U.S. outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would be "good for animals, good for human health and good for the environment." The statement by Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is raising concern that an agroterrorist might intentionally bring the disease into this country. "I openly hope it comes here," Newkirk said in an interview with Reuters New Service. Sean Gifford, a PETA spokesman, told The Des Moines Register that Newkirk was accurately quoted and that foot-and-mouth and mad cow disease, which also has hit Europe, "should serve as a wake-up call to consumers. If you eat meat, you're supporting animal abuse," he said. "If the diseases did come to this country, I certainly think what would happen to the animals would be better than had they lived out lives of suffering and misery," Gifford said. Gifford declined to answer directly whether PETA advocates the deliberate introduction into the United States of animal diseases. "We're taking this opportunity to let people know about the horrors of factory farming" and about the "torture of endless transportation to slaughterhouses . . . where cows and pigs are dismembered while conscious." Barbara Determan of Early, Ia., president of the National Pork Producers Council, said, "PETA's reckless comments . . . will encourage those whose stock in trade is terrorism, and should be condemned by every responsible environmental and animal welfare organization." Determan, a hog producer, cited the suffering of animals afflicted by foot-and-mouth disease and the personal, social and economic costs now experienced in Britain. "To actively wish this disease upon America, which PETA apparently does, should offend decent and well-meaning people everywhere," Determan said. U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Kevin Herglotz declined to comment on the PETA statements for fear that any response might encourage a terrorist act. Foot-and-mouth disease isn't normally fatal to livestock, but it devastates livestock trade. The highly contagious condition disables livestock production and is most successfully contained by killing infected herds. The mere presence of the disease, even hundreds of miles from Iowa, would lead to the immediate suspension of U.S. meat exports, a more than $600 million industry in Iowa annually. Federal officials have increased inspections at international airports in an effort to keep the disease from U.S. shores. The virus can be carried on clothing and shoes and in meat products. The Department of Agriculture is cooperating with the National Security Council and the Defense Department to establish a counter-terrorism plan within the Agriculture Research Service. The USDA and Defense Department in recent years have staged test exercises to determine how to deal with the deliberate contamination of food supplies. The issue of so-called agroterrorism has been raised increasingly in recent years by animal and plant scientists, including those at Iowa State University. "Agriculture is considered by many to be the perfect target," ISU's College of Veterinary Medicine cautioned in one report. Sales of crops and livestock in Iowa alone, the ISU report notes, total more than $12 billion a year. "If any one of these commodities were to be significantly impacted by a bioterrorist, the results could be catastrophic." Agricultural terrorism, the Iowa State report states, "is not about killing animals. It is about crippling an economy." Dr. Michael Margolian, a Canadian Department of National Defence expert on terrorism, states in a report: "By and large, agricultural sites in the U.S. are `soft' targets, not just because they are unprotected but also due to the ease with which infectious agents can be procured and delivered." Officials say the concentration in U.S. livestock production has increased the risk of agroterrorism. Large hog farms have 10,000 or more animals while cattle feedlots may hold as many as 300,000. Reporter George Anthan can be reached at (703) 907-5005 or anthang@news.dmreg.com About the threat VULNERABILITY: Peter Chalk, an agroterrorism expert with the Rand Institute, says in a report that reliance in North America on relatively few varieties of key crops has increased agriculture's vulnerability to terrorist attack. PREVENTION: Chalk believes the possibility of agroterrorism has received "short shrift" from the U.S. government and Americans generally. WHAT WAS SAID: "The possibility that this highly valuable commodity might somehow be deliberately sabotaged at source is something that the majority of people simply do not consider, let alone demand action against, as food scarcity has never been an issue for them," Chalk stated. Related articles, Pages 1D and 2D Copyright (c) The Des Moines Register. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc. Record Number: des2001041212060699 |
