Re: Govt Hushed-Up Possible Hoof-&-Mouth Outbreak

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:52:37 GMT, bw@xxxxxxxxx (B1ackwater) wrote:

foxnews/ap

WASHINGTON ? When there were fears of a foot-and-mouth outbreak in
the Midwest this summer, the White House received secret briefings
that highlighted the potential for old farm diseases to be new
national security threats.

The suspected outbreak in Minnesota of the disease, which does not
affect humans, never materialized. Yet federal officials said their
concerns showed how the government probably would respond to a
foot-and-mouth epidemic. The disease strikes cloven-hoofed animals
including cows, sheep, pigs and goats and can have a major economic
impact.

"We wanted to keep it quiet to the extent we could so it wouldn't
cause any panic or economic impact but make sure the people who would
be most concerned like the president or the secretary knew what we
were doing," said Roger Rufe, director of operations coordination at
the Homeland Security Department.

The incident began June 26 in Austin, Minn., known as "Spamtown, USA"
because it is home to Hormel Foods Corp., which makes the canned meat
product.

A shipment of about 200 pigs had come into a slaughterhouse, and an
inspector noticed suspicious lesions on some.

The symptoms indicated possible foot-and-mouth disease. It is one of
the most feared animal diseases because it so highly contagious. The
U.S. has not had an outbreak since 1929; Britain had one this summer.

Once the inspector raised the alarm, federal authorities quarantined
the animals and began testing. They also notified Homeland Security
officials, who coordinated the response through their National
Operations Center.

The information was kept secret out of fear it could cause consumer
panic and spook investors.

Rufe and others DHS officials briefed White House anti-terrorism
officials while they waited for test results back from a government
lab on Plum Island, N.Y.

In bracing for the worst, officials wanted to avoid the kind of
short-lived rumors of a foot-and-mouth outbreak such as the one in
2002 that cost the beef industry an estimated $50 million.

They also sought out any possible intelligence on terrorist links.

- - - - -

Admittedly, agro-terrorism is relatively easy to commit

Yes it would be, and was one of the things that William Luther
Pierce of the "National Alliance" (a neo nazi type organization)
threatened the US with not long before he expired.

and essentially impossible to prevent. Such tiny amounts
of biologicals are required that any agent could bring
a crop/animal epidemic here literally under his fingernail.
Our own sloppy agricultural methods would ensure rapid
spread of the disease.

Concentration of ownership of agricultural land (and therefore
wealth) has been a problem in the US for quite a while, and it's worse
now, especially because of the fact that there are very few
environmental protections regarding farming and livestock raising. The
drive for profit is a big part of what has made American agriculture
less diverse and more vulnerable.

Since Americans have long been
used to having as much (more) food as they need, even
the IDEA of shortages would likely cause a panic far
more devastating than anything caused on 9-11.

That said ... I wonder what OTHER agro-nightmares the
govt may have been keeping hidden. Hoof-&-Mouth is
generally considered to not affect humans, so it's
"safe" to cover-up. But what about diseases that DO
affect humans - "mad cow" and others ?

They've been effectively covered up too. Didn't you hear about
the "dinoflagellates" in the rivers down south? Pig farmers dumping
the waste from the pigs kind of "brought them back to life" (the
dinoflagellates that is), which were dormant on the river bottoms.
They're as old as the dinosaurs, but they're still alive.
There was a good article in a popular men's magazine a few
years back on these. If you want to read it, I'll e-mail you the
information on where it was... no need to advertise the few people
actually reporting the stuff.
Anyway, a woman of very high standing in the marine biology
(or related) field found out about this problem, did some research,
blew the whistle, and pretty soon started getting death threats from
some farmers who were as much pigs as the ones they were raising.
Also, the dinoflagellates are in what is called the "Redneck
Riviera", which means that acknowledgement of the problem will
radically alter the amount of tourist dollars pouring into that
region.


That's the problem with cover-ups ... once you find out
they've been doing it you can never be sure WHAT has been
covered-up in the past or what might be covered-up in
the future.

Oh well, if worst comes to worst, rat-burgers probably
ain't so bad. Always plenty of rats domtchaknow, they're
immune to pretty much everything :-)

Sure. Look how many people want Bush in jail, but he's still
there.








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