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During World War I, the Germans abandoned plans for attacking the Allied nations’ wheat supplies in favor of focusing on their livestock. Today, the possibility that cattle, swine, or poultry will be the target of an agroterrorist attack still poses the greatest danger for socioeconomic and political disruption. And when it comes to agents that can harm the nation’s livestock, experts agree that the most ominous possibility is foot and mouth disease.

To a terrorist, foot and mouth disease as a potential weapon is potentially appealing for several reasons. Unlike biological agents that directly affect humans, how the virus can be weaponized is not an issue. The animals themselves would transmit the virus. In addition, countries as close as those in South America provide a source. Foot and mouth disease is also nonzoonotic and presents no risk of accidental human infection. Terrorists can handle the virus themselves with no personal risk, and a great knowledge of biology or animal science is not necessary to employ it effectively.

Foot and mouth disease could be introduced and dispersed throughout the food production chain through animals carrying and introducing it into susceptible herds, animals exposed to contraband materials such as contaminated hay, people wearing clothing or using equipment to transmit the virus to uninfected animals, and contaminated facilities such as feed yards, barns, and trucks.

The highly concentrated nature of livestock production would encourage this rapid transmission. The largest dairies can house over 10,000 cows; it is standard for an American dairy to hold at least one thousand. Animals are often transported across state lines for slaughter. Even isolated farms may share equipment, vehicles, and veterinary instruments with others that are geographically far away. On average, a pound of meat travels one thousand miles before it is consumed.

What would happen if foot and mouth disease were introduced to U.S. farms by agroterrorists? The mass slaughter and disposal of infected animals would be required, and the domestic and international sale of meat and meat products would be halted— possibly for years. Processed goods would have to be destroyed, and extensive decontamination efforts of production and livestock- containment facilities would be required. Such an outbreak would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

THE DISEASE APPEAL TO TERRORISTS

Foot and Mouth Disease

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