Ridge again -- WASHINGTON BOARD

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Date Posted: 09:50:32 03/16/02 Sat
Author: MJ
Author Host/IP: wks-166-152-9.kscable.com / 24.166.152.9
Subject: Ridge again

Read down. He is wanting "one" agency for food control.
[for discussion and educational use only]

Food supply could be next terrorist target

Friday, March 15, 2002

By LANCE GAY

The next terrorist attack is not likely to come in the form of bombs or falling buildings but rather in increased admissions to hospitals as a result of sabotage of the food system, experts told a conference of food executives.

Tom Ridge, President Bush's homeland security adviser, told a Food Security Summit convened this week that securing the nation's food supplies is one of the administration's top priorities in the war on terrorism.

Ridge said Thursday that the country's abundance of food makes securing it a leading concern. "Because we have so much, we have a great deal to lose,'' Ridge said.

He noted that the administration has asked Congress for funds to increase food inspection at the nation's borders, and is considering a plan first backed by the National Academy of Sciences to put the various agencies concerned with food safety into a single department.

Food safety is currently regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Maritime Administration also have responsibilities pertaining to food safety.

Food industry executives said that, due to government mandates, they are already looking out for unusual health problems that may be linked to food. Some executives fretted that the administration will further boost government regulations.

Steve Glover, vice president of the National Restaurant Association, said that although food supplies aren't normally a military target, they are choice targets for terrorists.

"They may not be looking for mass casualties. They may be looking to create fame," he said.

The summit was sponsored by Glover's group and the National Food Processors Association.

Tom Inglesby, deputy director of the center for civilian bio-defense at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said biological weapons are ideal for spreading terror because they're hard to detect when used, and difficult to track back to their source. He said the first indication of an attack would be when people get sick, which could be days after a biological weapon is used.

"Attacks with biological weapons do not present themselves with a bang, boom or an explosion, but with presentations at a hospital," Ingelsby said. He noted that last October's anthrax letters resulted in exposing only 37 people, but that the letters disrupted government and caused widespread panic.

Ingelsby said industrial technologies that are already distributed globally could enable scientists to manipulate genomes and fungi to make new generations of biological weapons that can destroy people or crops.

Richard Lew, a security consultant for the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Dial Corp., said food processors are already adopting new security equipment, from perimeter fences to control locks and guard booths, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Roger Viadero, a former Agriculture Department inspector general, said government attitudes toward the food industry and agriculture are also changing. He said that the department wasn't included in some of the security directives issued in the Clinton years because those drafting the orders didn't believe the food supply was vulnerable.

That has changed, he said.

"There are real and exact threats to agribusiness," which is responsible for 18 percent of America's annual output. "It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, and the when is now."

On the Net: www.foodsafetysummit.com
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/Article.asp?ID=2689

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Replies:

Re: Ridge again, and again, and again.... -- Donk, 13:23:23 03/16/02 Sat