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April 20, 2001
Random thoughts on foot-and-mouth disease
By
Mike Barnett
Editor
Foot-and-mouth disease has grabbed headlines here and around the globe the past few weeks. And for good reason. The number of animals slaughtered in Great Britain alone in an attempt to control the devastating outbreak has passed 1 million.
But Great Britain is only the tip of the iceberg. Do you realize that there have been outbreaks in 23 other countries since January of 2000?
In fact, only two continents—North America and Australia—are currently free of the disease. Some experts say it's only a matter of time before it hits Texas and the United States. Let's all hope and pray that they're wrong.
•••
Most of us are too young to remember, but the United States has faced the foot-and-mouth threat before.
Nine outbreaks have occurred from 1870 to 1929, according to the Texas Cooperative Extension. In all but two outbreaks, relatively small numbers of animals were involved. The disease was eradicated and quarantines were lifted within a few months.
However, outbreaks in 1914 and 1924 were extensive. Texas and 21 other states were affected in 1914, and 204,741 cattle, swine, sheep and goats were slaughtered. In the 1924-25 outbreak, more than 22,000 head were slaughtered in California.
Texas and other Southwestern states were put at risk in December of 1946, when Mexico had an outbreak of foot-and-mouth, or "aftosa," as it is called in Latin America. Even though the northernmost Mexican states remained free, within a year the disease had spread extensively throughout Central Mexico. This led to the formation of the American/Mexican Commission for the Eradication of Aftosa, and through considerable and combined efforts of both countries, foot-and-mouth was eradicated and Mexico was given free status in September of 1952. The effort required the slaughter of nearly 1 million animals plus the manufacture and use of nearly 60 million doses of foot-and-mouth vaccine.
•••
Is the outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Great Britain the result of a bioterrorist attack? Analyst Claude Salhani, an expert on bioterrorism, has found that respected authorities take very seriously the possibility that the epidemic could be a deliberate act. And further, he speculates in a UPI story that the attack could be a dry run for an even more devastating assault on the U.S. agriculture industry.
Far-fetched? Maybe not.
"I would call the American agriculture base the soft underbelly of the American economy," said Peter Probst, who consults on terrorism and is vice president and director of programs for the Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. "It generates $1 trillion a year in export revenue, and an attack against beef and swine would be incredibly costly. It would be disastrous."
•••
Some misguided people are actually hoping foot-and-mouth disease hits the United States. The president of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals is candidly expressing her wish for a domestic outbreak.
"If that hideousness came here, it wouldn't be any more hideous for the animals—they are all bound for a ghastly death anyway," said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "But it would wake up consumers.
"I openly hope that it comes here," she said. "It will bring economic hardship only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence. It would be good for animals, good for human health and good for the environment."
This is the same group that has portrayed Ronald McDonald as a serial killer, dubbed a fast food giant "Murder King," and proclaimed Jesus was a vegetarian.
I thought PETA stood for animal welfare. I wouldn't wish a hideous disease on my worst enemy, much less someone or something I profess to love and protect.
Seems Newkirk has a bad case of foot-IN-mouth disease.
