The possibilities of a terrorist attack against some phase of agriculture was the subject of two seminars held at Tri-County Technology Center in Bartlesville, Okla., for the benefit of both emergency personnel and those involved in production agriculture.

David Sparks, Extension veterinary for northeastern Oklahoma chaired the program.

“Terrorism has already happened in Oklahoma and it wasn’t done by anyone that looked like someone we would automatically suspect,” Sparks said referring to the attack on the Murry Building in Oklahoma City. “The next time it could be against some form of agriculture. You can’t anticipate how people like that will think. Oklahoma is the crossroads in the movement of cattle and grain. A lot of grain comes into the Port of Catoosa and then down the river to the Gulf in order to get to both coasts. Cattle come here going to feed yards and packing plants. Any of these things could be a target. Foot and Mouth Disease is the one we think of first. Someone could go to South America or the Middle East where there is a lot of it, take a handkerchief, drop it in front of diseased animals, give them a few minutes to examine it, pick it up, put it in his pocket, bring it home, drop it in a pen of healthy ones who will immediately come up and smell it. It doesn’t take but one virus to start an epidemic with Foot and Mouth Disease.”

Sparks showed a film produced by Peter Post-Pennington, DVM in England showing the epidemic that devastated the sheep and dairy industry there in 2001.

“There hasn’t been an outbreak in the United States since 1929,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t have one. The epidemic was the most devastating economic event to hit England, only second to World War II. There were at least 60 farmers who committed suicide and we don’t know how many marriages fell apart, children were abused, because of the stress. The impact on the veterinarians who had the job of killing all of these animals was horrible. One of the reasons it was so bad was there were no plans in place to contain something like that and it was several days before any attempt were made. By then it had spread. They had another small outbreak last year, but that time they got right on it and it didn’t cause any where near as much damage. We have to have a plan and right now we don’t.”

The film showed thousands of cattle, sheep and hogs being killed. In order to contain the disease, which can be spread through the air over a 500 square mile area in one day, it was necessary not only to kill the infected animals, but any within range of their location. More than six million head of livestock were killed. In order to attempt to contain the spread of the virus, people were not allowed to enter or, if they were inside, leave the quarantine zones. All of this was devastating to the farmers affected as not only did they loose herds and flocks that had been in their families for generations and were their source of livelihood, but were unable to receive food, medicine and have contact with the outside world. Just to get an ambulance in to a quarantined area was very difficult.

People don’t contact Foot and Mouth Disease, but they can be carriers. The virus can be carried in the nose of a person that just breathed the contaminated air and be transferable for four days.

“People don’t think of this, but if you eat food you’re part of agriculture.” Sparks said.

“Sooner or later the terrorists will get to ag terrorism,” Darrell Peel, OSU ag economist, said. “It is pure economics. Agriculture is a four-and-a-third billion dollar part of the economy in Oklahoma. This isn’t a secondary thing. When you add in the processor, wholesaler and retailer it is huge. Agriculture makes up 12.3 percent of the economy and accounts for 16.7 percent of the jobs. We’re used to natural disasters in Oklahoma, but this would impact everybody. Most big cities only have enough food for two to three days. Just remember New Orleans after Katrina. The majority of our orchards are in California or Florida and think where they are located—right on the ocean. There are two million beef cows in Oklahoma and they are pretty concentrated.”

Sparks said Foot and Mouth Disease is the greatest concern.

“PETA has stated they thought a big outbreak of F&M would be wonderful as it would destroy the livestock industry,” Sparks said. “People just don’t get it how easy something could happen. A rancher could visit an infected area not knowing it was, come home and immediately go check his livestock and be carrying the virus. It doesn’t cause death, just terrible suffering. Abscesses on the tongue and gums. There are 64 sub types of the virus so you can’t protect with vaccination.”

The second most feared epidemic is BSE.

“There have been 1,700 human deaths in England from BSE, but the reason is the way they feed their cattle,” Sparks said. “We feed soybean and cottonseed meals to provide protein. Those don’t grow very well over there so they have used meat scraps as a source of protein in livestock feed. BSE is spread through the consumption of brains and other parts of the central nervous system in the feed. People also eat brains a lot over their. When is the last time you heard anybody order brains and eggs here? That’s the difference. We’ve only had one case in a cow and it came in from Canada. That picture of that cow falling that was shown over and over was part of a training film for veterinaries. If you see a cow foaming at the mouth here forget about BSE. Check for rabies. Now, that we do have and cattle get it every year.”

He also touched on the fact anthrax is always present in the soil, but even if you have a hot spot in your soil you might have a cow get it every four or five years.

“You can’t dig the soil up and poison a whole bunch of people through the ventilation system with that,” Sparks said. “The kind that can be used like that is developed and refined in a government lab somewhere.”