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TOP STORY, May 15, 2012

By JANE W. GRAHAM
AFP Correspondent

BLACKSBURG, Va. — People paying attention to what is happening around them are what’s key to fighting terrorism, participants in Virginia’s fourth annual Agroterrorism Conference learned on May 9.
“If you see something, say something,” conference leaders stressed repeatedly. “We are at that level (of risk). If you see something, say something. If it doesn’t look right, call somebody. Tell them. Make sure we are safe.”
The conference, held at the Skelton Conference Center at Virginia Tech, was a joint effort of the FBI, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and Virginia Tech.
“There is a lot of risk out there,” VDACS Commissioner Matt Lohr said in welcoming the group. “We want to plan to minimize that risk.”
The Old Dominion has had an Agroterrorism Working Group in place for seven years working to do this, he explained.
It is a leader in fighting the prospect of agroterrorism.
He said the conference was intended to create awareness.
It was held for farmers, agribusiness people and officials from various law enforcement and regulatory groups.
Lohr was joined in welcoming the group by SAC Michael Morehart, FBI, Richmond, and Dr. Bill Pierson of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.
A panel from the various sponsoring agencies took the group through a mock response to a possible agroterrorism event in Virginia using slides, their knowledge, plan, and experience, and taking questions from the audience.
During the afternoon, Dr. Charles Broaddus of VDACS outlined the state’s “Secure Milk Supply Initiative,” and Megan Samford of VDACS addressed “Supply Chain Integrity and Security.”
FBI representatives talked about the “International Animal Disease Threat.”
The panel led the audience through a fictional scenario of what has the potential of becoming a dreaded reality, the discovery of suspected foot and mouth disease in a herd of cattle.
Foot and mouth disease is a foreign animal disease that has not occurred in the United States since 1929.
It affects cloven hoofed animals including cattle, sheep and hogs but is not harmful to humans.
It is highly contagious so the usual practice if to destroy an infected herd.
Should the disease be found in this country it could have devastating economic effects for the farmer and the nation, the group learned.
It would have a huge effect on the nation’s ability to export livestock because all nations are on guard against it and would slam their doors shut to American animals.
The scene set for the mock exercise began when a local vet arrived at a farm to find some cattle, recently arrived from a neighboring state, displaying symptoms that could possibly be foot and mouth disease.
These included limping and sores on the lower legs above the hoof and in the mouth.
His first step was to contact the regional vet from the State Veterinarian’s office who visited the farm, locked it down, took samples to send immediately to a lab for diagnosis and asked the farmer to not tell anyone about the possibility until a diagnosis was obtained to avoid panic over symptoms that might prove to be another disease.
The panel members explained that there are several common diseases which, at certain stages, look the same as those for foot and mouth.
They outlined how the situation would be handled if the diagnosis was positive for the disease through various agencies all the way to the President.
This included such things as quarantine and control areas, limiting access to the farm, finding where the disease came from, stopping the truck that transported the cattle before it spread the disease, determining if a criminal act was involved in infecting the cattle or if it was accidental and destroying the herd and disposing of the carcasses.
They also discussed when the problem should be made public and how.
An announcement is required by law after the disease if diagnosed and the announcement would be made at a VDACS news conference, they indicated.