Science and Technology to Counter Terrorism Proceedings of an Indo-U.S. Workshop (2007) / Chapter Skim
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13 India and Agricultural Bioterrorism
13 India and Agricultural Bioterrorism
Pages 111-120
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From page 111... ...
What we saw on the faces of little children injured by napalm bombs, running on a village street in Vietnam, is terror, and the system perpetrating it is terrorism.56 In modern times, war means causing maximum damage to the adversary by whatever means is possible, be it psychological damage; human casualties; death; damage to crops, food, health, properties, land, water, air; or even the annihilation of a civilization. Weapons capable of inflicting an ever-increasing amount of damage on the adversary -- either immediately or over several decades -- are the hallmarks of modern warfare.
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From page 112... ...
The best documented examples are African horse sickness in India and Rift Valley fever in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. These viruses are of sub-Saharan origin.
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From page 113... ...
Diagnosis of plant and animal diseases takes a long time, and much time is lost before remedial measures can be taken. This makes Indian agriculture very susceptible to terrorist attacks.
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From page 114... ...
Sometimes, they are referred to as endemic diseases. Epidemic diseases emerge when changes occur in several of the following factors: • human intrusion in the ecosystem of a pathogen • changes in the ecosystem attributable to man-made causes • local and global climatic changes leading to an increase in the vector or pathogen population • increased human and animal population pressure leading to more rapid transmission of the infecting organism • rapid transport of humans or animals leading to the rapid spread of pathogens • global movement of processed or unprocessed food material • changes in vaccination policies (for example, stoppage of vaccination against smallpox has made people throughout the world susceptible to that disease)
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From page 115... ...
FOOD DEPRIVATION AND FAMINE The final common path of agricultural damage is food deprivation and famine. India is considered to be self-sufficient in food grains and is a grain exporter, even though it has the largest population of malnourished children in the world.
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From page 116... ...
Mutant strains of viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases of food crops and animals can be generated by those who seek to inflict harm. Stocks of fungal spores sufficient to infect every rice and wheat plant on earth have been produced by some groups.
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From page 117... ...
OTHER METHODS There are a number of methods that terrorists can use to inflict harm. They can burn or poison food stocks, destroy the food transport system, introduce poisons or infectious agents into processed food products or stored food grains, or pollute water with pathogenic organisms.
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From page 118... ...
During a bioterrorist attack the perpetrators may use a single organism or multiple organisms. The organisms may be classically known pathogens, including Rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease virus affecting cattle, brucellosis affecting milk animals and humans, and plant pathogens affecting food crops.
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From page 119... ...
It must be remembered that the prolonged insurgency in Mizoram arose because the government was unable to address a near-famine situation in Mizoram caused by crop failure. Hunger produces anger: the Adivasis in central India, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand are chronically hungry, and they have turned to terrorism.
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From page 120... ...
crops should also be critically assessed for their susceptibility to and resistance against nontarget organisms.
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