After 9/11 and the anthrax letter attacks, North America, in particular the United States (U.S.) remains quite vulnerable to an attack (1, 2). According to the article titled “Agroterrorism in the U.S.: Key Security Challenge for the 21st century”, some of the areas in which the U.S. remains vulnerable to attack include: water supplies, food production, food processing, and food distribution. What do these area have in common? They are all connected to agriculture. A bioterrorist attack in which agriculture is the target is termed agroterrorism. Agroterrorism can be defined as “the deliberate introduction of a disease agent, either against livestock or into the food chain, for purposes of undermining stability and/or generating fear.” Agriculture …show more content…
An attack on the American agriculture system would have numerous consequences. The agricultural sector comprises approximately 13% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also exports over $50 billion worth in exported products. An agroterrorism attack would severely impact their economy due to a decrease in food production and the possibility of sanctions. Additionally, to compensate for this loss, the cost of food could increase drastically depending on the severity of the attack (1). Why would terrorists chose to commit an act of agroterrorism over the traditional terrorist or a bioterrorist attack? Well, there are numerous reasons for this. Pathogens are quite accessible and therefore, acquiring a pathogen is not an issue. Cost is also a huge determining factor. Gyles states “that a strong biological weapons arsenal …show more content…
The disease was brought to Europe and spread around the world via soil plagued with the pathogen and infected potatoes. The first documented case of potato wart in North America was in Newfoundland, Canada over 100 years ago. This occurred due to the importation of diseased potatoes. After the incident in Canada, potato wart surfaced in the U.S. about 4 years later. Similarly, this also occurred due to the importation of approximately 60 million pounds of potatoes from Europe (1). Because of this, North America imposed a ban on potatoes coming from Europe, predominantly from the United Kingdom causing a loss of £1 million or approximately $2 million CAD in today’s value and a decrease in exports by 20% (2). Potato wart disease can cause losses over 50% in contaminated fields. Since then, there have been documented cases of potato wart on every continent. Most often the cases are isolated to small gardens (1, 2). As previously stated, Synchytrium endobioticum is the microorganism responsible for potato wart. S. endobioticum is an obligate parasite that is endobiotic, meaning the pathogen resides within the host, in this case, it is the potato. Furthermore, S. endobioticum is a non-hyphae producing chytrid (1). Instead of hyphae, S. endobioticum possesses sporangia. Each sporangia produces approximately 200-300 motile zoospores
The United States was built on an agrarian system. The ability to grow crops helped create an economic backbone for the county. The use of fertilizer became a norm in farming and agriculture and was not considered a potentially harmful substance. Modern science in combination with the terrorist mind has looked at fertilizer as a weapon, particularly those containing ammonium nitrate. The Ammonium Nitrate Security Program shows how far the United States has progressed by regressing when the issue of terrorism is presented into the conversation. Terrorists are using readily available tools which can be purchased legally without knowledge of law enforcement personnel.
The threat of agroterrorism must be dealt with before it’s too late. To first understand the threat, one must look at the industry and the agents involved. Within those areas, a person can find characteristics that can give an understanding of this issue. This essay is going to have a narrow view by only looking at five different points in this area to show the issues in the industry, and show how those issues increase the risk of an agroterrorism attack. The issue of agroterrorism is a real and present danger to people and to the country.
Potatoes are a truly globalized crop. They can be found all around the world from the Americas to China, from Africa to Europe. In each of these places, they play their own unique role but the secret to their success is their hardy nature and their nutritional value. They become valuable to some peoples because they are able to grow in geographical locations or in weather situations that would cause other crops to fail. They are also incredibly nutritious, providing all that is necessary for survival. They are, in fact so nutritious that they have throughout history been one of the chief supporters of human life—along with rice, maize, barley, and maniocs (Crosby,169)—and are today one of the four most imported food plants in the world (King). No other crop has the ability to yield such healthful food in such small space (Campbell Bartoletti, 20) It is because of these characteristics that potatoes have remained an influential commodity, spreading from culture to culture, supplying cheap nutrition for the poor, and leading to cultural interaction through both trade and catastrophe created migration.
The morning of September 11, 2001, Americans experienced vulnerability and realized a new fear, the threat of a bioterrorist attack. In the days that followed the terrorist attacks letters tainted with anthrax began appearing in the U.S. mail. Five Americans were killed and 17 were sickened in what became the worst biological attacks in U.S. history (“Amerithrax or Anthrax Investigation”). Bioterrorism is defined as a criminal act against unsuspecting civilians and a threat to national security with the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or germs. An attack of bioterrorism is meant to cause illness or death by microorganisms that are found in nature, but they can be made more harmful because of an increased ability to cause and spread disease which resists medical treatment. These biological agents can spread from person to person or can be released into the food supply, water, or air. They can be hard to detect because they may not cause illness for hours or several days, thus giving terrorists an advantage allowing them to go escape undetected until symptoms arise and an attack is suspected. Biological weapons are appealing because they are often easy to obtain and inexpensive, and can be easily distributed. The main objective of bioterrorism is to cause panic and terror, not necessarily casualties. The social disruption they cause can be far worse than any actual damage.
The operations carried out by the terrorist in the book After the First Death by Robert Cormier share some common characteristics to the Chechen terrorist’s Beslan School Siege. While there are many commonalities between the two attacks, there is also a few differences. To highlight these similarities and differences it is best to focus on three main areas that are common within any terrorist organization. Those three main areas are, motivation, methods, and target selection, it is through these areas where highlighting the similarities and differences can be explained.
The potato originated in the Andes Mountains of South America in what is now Peru and Bolivar. They were introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. It took more than 200 years until they became a staple of European diets,
The potato is the storage part of the plant and so this is where the
The thought of an attack actually occurring in the United States may seem a little farfetched, but it may be more of a reality than just science fiction. Bioterrorism is a real threat and you can take action to help maintain the threat. Staying informed and alert about diseases and how they spread can help keep the USA a safe place and minimize the effects of a bioterrorism attack. It is up to us to know what to do in case of catastrophe. Stay informed and help keep our country safe!
After a long, hard day, you're really hungry. Imagine: tender slices of juicy roast beef, a
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) belongs to family Solanaceae and is one of the most important vegetable cum starch supplying crop having high production per unit area per unit time. Potato, an underground tuber occupies prime position among the cash crops in India. Potatoes are rich source of vitamins, especially C and B and also minerals. Tubers contain 70-80% water, 20.6% carbohydrate, 2.1% protein, 0.3% fat, 1.1% crude fibre and 0.9% ash (Banu et al., 2007). It also contains good amount of essential amino acid like leucine, tryptophane and isolucine (Khurana and Naik, 2003). Among major food crops, potato produces the highest dry matter and edible protein per unit area and time. It can fulfill the requirement of food for human consumption
Imagine a terrorist without any guns or bombs. Would he or she be considered a real terrorist? The answer is yes; anyone who threatens or endangers the lives of others are terrorists, even those who utilize bacteria and viruses rather than other usual weapons. When people use biological weapons as terrorism, that act is called a bioterrorism. Unfortunately, this actions have been repeated throughout the history, as well as in modern days. They can in fact be far more dangerous than actual weapons.
The backbone of a stable nation, socially and politically, is agriculture. Agriculture is the largest sector that provides a nation with food and employment. Agriculture is currently being affected by climate change and at the same time it is also a contributor to climate change. The drastic elevations in climate change started from the mid to late 20th century and they have been increasing since then (Boisvenue & Running 2006). Climate change is affecting agriculture by interfering with the efficiency of crop production. Agriculture is facing droughts, flooding, sea level elevations, natural disasters, and health hazards for employees. All of these exponents lead to crop failure that creates famines and food prices to rise. On the other side, agriculture is also contributing to climate change through their output of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints. These are caused by the activities that agriculture engages with such as breeding of livestock, ploughing of fields, deforestation, and the use of pesticides and other agrochemicals. Climate change affects countries differently, mainly due to their ability to adapt and their geographical location. Canada and Russia benefit from the changes in climate while Sudan and Bangladesh are affected negatively, struggling to adapt. Agriculture and climate change are interrelated processes that exist mutually making it harder to reduce one without affecting the other.
Potato is one of the most nutritious and commonly edible foods in our society today. But there is a fascinating story of how Potato came to be widely consumed today around the world today. Potato also known as Solanum Tuberosum for its scientific identification was a wild plant. It was first domesticated in 10,000 BCE around the Lake Titicaca basin in the Andes region by the farmers. This region was not the best for agriculture because of the terrain but Potato rose to the occasion to become the most dominant food. Potteries of the Andean civilization depicted Potato as the chief crop. This region is in present day Southern Peru and Northwest Bolivia. The warm summer days enhanced the growth of plants and cold nights improved the growth of tubers; hence Potato was able to survive in this region. The farmers with their trial and error method figured that Potato can be bred through its seed. The seed of a Potato produce different fruits with varying sizes and color. The most significant of the domesticated Potato by the Andes farmers was the Solanum Tuberosum Andigena. This Potato had large tubers, well rounded and can grow only near the equator. Pre-Columbian population grew over 200 different types of Potato, making this plant few of the widely domesticated foods worldwide. The planting of Potato occurred at different elevations which enabled Andean farmers to plant and harvest it all through the year. Indigenous people of South America preserved Potato and stored it in case of a famine. The cold dry climate of the Andes region made this long-time preservation possible. The process involved covering of already harvested Potatoes from mist and leaving them in the cold night. The next day with sunshine on the Pota...
Large scale production agriculture is often attacked for its care of food safety. It is difficult to determine the precise cause for the stereotypical view of production agriculture’s concern with food safety. With the recent outbreaks of poor food safety instances in the United States, it is easy to blame the large-scale farmers who have a lot to worry about.
Watterson, J. C. (1986). Diseases. In Atherton J. G. & Rudich, J. (Eds.), The tomato crop (443-