JRT POST

There are 16 The pathogens on the terrorist list are slanted across a page with tall, pointed graffiti. Next to each is the incubation period, the route of transmission, and the expected mortality rate. Pneumonic plague is infected when the bacteria that causes bubonic plague enters the lungs, and it tops the list. Untreated, disease Kill everyone it infects. Below are the names of past epidemics-cholera and anthrax. But what shocked General Richard B. Miles was another matter: Most pathogens do not affect humans at all. Stem rust, rice blast, foot-and-mouth disease, avian flu, swine fever.These are biological weapons designed to attack humans Global food system.

Miles served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2002, when the SEALs discovered the list in an underground complex in eastern Afghanistan.U.S. intelligence agencies have suspected Al-Qaeda Interest in biological weapons, but this adds to the importance of the idea, as Miles said, “They are indeed doing this.” He said that later that year, another intelligence source reported Said that a group of al-Qaeda members finally came to the mountains in the northeast. Iraq, They test various pathogens on dogs and goats.

“As far as I know, they have never reached the point where they are useful in a battlefield environment,” Miles told us. “But, as we discovered at the World Trade Center in New York City, Al Qaeda has never completely abandoned an idea, so you can’t give up easily.” In fact, he said, “I think there are other possible confidential information that will tell you. Is not The case-but I don’t know all of this, nor do I know to talk about it. “

Even if al Qaeda continues to move forward, other organizations seem to have taken the baton of biochemical terror: In 2014, a dusty Dell laptop was found from the hideout of ISIS in northern Syria-later known as the “doomsday laptop.” Dubbing Foreign policy-It was found to contain detailed instructions on the use of infected animals to produce and spread bubonic plague.

Myers said that farms and feedlots are a “soft target” for a potential bioterrorist. They are not well protected, and effective pathogens are not particularly difficult to manufacture and deploy. Foot-and-mouth disease is a virus named after the large, swollen blisters it causes on the tongues, mouths, and feet of cloven-hoofed animals. It is so contagious that a single case in a cattle herd usually triggers mass culling. Senator Pat Roberts told the local NPR affiliate: “All you do is put the handkerchief under the nose of the sick animal in Afghanistan, put it in a ziplock bag, come to the United States, and then throw it at the Dodge The feed farm in the city.” 2006. “bingo!”

Agriculture is also highly concentrated: three states supply three-quarters of the vegetables in the United States, and 2% of feedlots supply three-quarters of the country’s beef. More importantly, crops and livestock are genetically identical. A quarter of the genetic material in the entire Holstein herd in the United States comes from only five bulls. (One of them, Chief Alinda of Pawnee Farms, contributed nearly 14%.) Monocultures like this one are particularly vulnerable to disease. They are an unlimited buffet for pests and pathogens.With or without the help of studious terrorists, the world is vulnerable to the impact of the agricultural pandemic. Coronavirus disease——And, if anything, I’m not prepared to fight it.

In order to diagnose deadly diseases and develop treatments and vaccines for them, researchers need to work with them in the laboratory, but few facilities are safe enough. In particular, foot-and-mouth disease is very easy to spread. Live viruses cannot be brought to the United States without written permission from the Secretary of Agriculture. The only place researchers can use it is the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which is built on a low-lying island 8 miles off the coast of Connecticut. (“Sounds charming”, as Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal Lecter), The Silence of the Lambs, Murmured when offering the possibility of vacation there. )

Meidao has the advantage of a natural cordon-the ocean. But it opened in 1954 and its laboratory is outdated. They are not certified to deal with pathogens that require the highest level of containment, Biosafety level 4According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BSL-4 microorganisms are “dangerous and foreign, posing a high risk of aerosol-borne infections”. Generally, they can infect animals and humans, and there are no known treatments or vaccines. Ebola is one of them. The same applies to the recent emergence of Nipah virus and Hendra virus. At present, there are only three facilities in the world that can accommodate large animals of this level. If a foot-and-mouth disease breaks out in the United States tomorrow, researchers here will have to beg for laboratory space from colleagues in Canada, Australia or Germany.

This will change next year, when the Department of Homeland Security will open a new $1.25 billion laboratory, the National Biological and Agricultural Defense Facility. NBAF is located in Manhattan, the university city of Kansas, the heart of American agriculture. It will follow the trend of infectious disease control in the 21st century: instead of relying on Mei Island-style geographic barriers to ensure safety, it will use extraordinary engineering controls. Here, in corn and cattle, researchers will work to protect the food supply from the coming plague.