http://www.cosmiverse.com/paranormal03150102.html
Foot And Mouth Disease -- A Biological Attack?
March 15, 2001 08:20 CDT
The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease began early last month in
Northumberland in Northeastern England. Veterinarians said the strain was
similar to a strain native to Asia. Over the next through weeks, the disease
spread throughout the UK livestock business. The last outbreak of Foot and
Mouth Disease happened in England in 1967, and was limited to Northwest
England. It involved over one thousand cases of the disease occurring in the
winter and spring of that year. The disease was thought to have been
controlled due to the less developed livestock transport system.
The virus responsible for the spread of the disease has shown to be extremely
virulent in this outbreak, and has been spread widely because of large-scale
transportation of animals throughout the UK and Europe. Some view this as
indicative of the effect of globalism on the agri-business. Even though the
entire livestock transportation system has been shut down, the virus has
spread like wildfire even though UK Ministry of Agriculture has taken steps
to limit its spread.
The initial source of the disease in the UK is still under debate. Initial
reports say the farm that started the initial outbreak in Northumberland fed
waste food to its animals, which could have contained infectious agents.
Outbreaks are also happening in Argentina and in other parts of the world.
Meat infected with Foot and Mouth could possibly be imported because of bad
practices in examining food imports.
One other possibility is that the UK has been the target of biological
warfare by unfriendly nations like Iraq. The danger of biological agents used
against population, military, or economy was detailed in a speech by Dr. John
M. Deutch, Director of the CIA, at the "Conference on Nuclear, Biological,
Chemical Weapons Proliferation and Terrorism" in May of 1996. Deutch
described biological warfare as being a "really dangerous and immediate
threat." Deutch made an example of Iraq, saying, "Iraq has expertise, hidden
components, and a leadership, in case anyone is in doubt, willing to resume
chemical, biological and nuclear production." The government of the United
States paid attention to Deutch's warnings, and by the end of the 1990s had
invested hundreds of millions of dollars upgrading biological warfare
facilities like the USDA facility at Plum Island, New York to fight
bioterrorism.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that the CIA calls Foot and Mouth
Disease one of the 15 animal agents that could have potential as Biological
Warfare applications. Their figures show that the cost of developing an
effective Economic Biological Warfare weapon to target an enemy's
agricultural system is extremely low; perhaps even as low as $10 million.
The following was taken from the USDA report, "The Threat of Intentional
Introduction of Foreign Animal Diseases into the United States."
"Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Attack--A terrorist group wishing to show the
weakness of the United States has targeted our agricultural industry to
demonstrate the vulnerability of the United States to a BW attack. The
terrorist group decided to use FMD because of its ease of availability around
the world. FMD is a highly contagious viral infection that easily spreads by:
1, direct or indirect contact with infected animals; 2, spread of aerosol
from infected animals; 3, feeding contaminated garbage; 4, contact with
contaminated objects; 5, artificial insemination; and 6, contaminated
biologicals.
Although the direct impact on human health would be minimal to none, its
affect on the animal industry would be severe due to the control measures
that would be necessary to contain it:
stop movement of animal and animal products in the area affected;
slaughter infected animals;
destroy carcasses;
disinfect vehicles leaving the infected areas; and
mass vaccination campaign. Considering the current UK outbreak of Foot and
Mouth Disease in the context given in the U.S. Department of Agriculture
report on Bioterrorism, it is not inconceivable that the UK is the first
casualty of a Biological attack.
