[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Khoder bin Hakkin) writes:
>
>http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/news/86256B51006BC7AB86256B6C0074E61C?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2Cfarmers%2Cfbi?opendocument&headline=FBI+agents+tells+Missouri+farmers+to+keep+alert+for+terrorism
>
> FBI agents tells Missouri farmers to keep alert for terrorism
> By Tim Higgins
> Associated Press Writer
>
> 02/26/2002 03:23 PM
>
> JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Farmers are the nation's first line
> of defense against terrorist attacks on the food supply through
> contamination of crops or livestock, an FBI agent told Missouri
> farmers Tuesday.
>
> David Cudmore, Kansas City coordinator of the FBI's unit in charge
> of fighting weapons of mass destruction, told a Missouri Farm Bureau
> conference that farmers must be alert to suspicious developments.
>
> ``If you suspect something, report it and tell them why: 'There's
> something weird with my crops. They're turning a color I've never seen
> before,''' Cudmore said.
>
> Beyond wiping out a herd, the deliberate exposure of animals to
> a biological agent such as foot-and-mouth disease would hurt the
> nation's economy and send waves of fear across the country, Cudmore
> said.
>
> He said it would be easy for a person to bring a piece of infected
> material into the United States and spread it to livestock.
>
> ``If a person takes a rag, puts it on the nose of a cow with
> foot-and-mouth disease, then puts it in his pocket, keeps it wet, gets
> on a plane, flies over to the Midwest -- if he just shook a farmer's
> hand, boom!'' Cudmore said.
>
> Cudmore said he was more worried about biological attacks against
> agriculture than anthrax attacks against people.
>
> Still, the FBI in Kansas City has responded to 45 anthrax scares,
> Cudmore said. No person has been charged with a crime.
>
> Anthrax was discovered last fall at a Kansas City postal facility.
> About 250 people were advised to take antibiotics as a precaution but
> no one became ill, and the facility reopened after two weeks.
>
> Authorities field a lot of calls about nothing more than a white
> powdery substance on a kitchen counter or garage floor, Cudmore said.
>
> He told farmers that if they detect something amiss, they should first
> try to gather information about it.
>
> ``If you can't figure out the explanation for why something is going
> on, you've got to report it,'' Cudmore said.
>
> ---- And cover those udders! You're embarressing Ashcroft!
