Filed at 4:38 p.m. ET September 19, 2002 Experts Warn on Food Supply Threat By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, This article from NYTimes.com WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is poorly prepared for a bioterrorism attack on farm animals, crops and the food supply, a panel of scientists concluded Thursday. It blamed this situation on a communications gap between intelligence agencies and among agriculture officials, farm groups and universities. The Agriculture Department commissioned the report by the National Academy of Sciences but -- fearing that it would be used as a manual for terrorists -- fought its release until discussions of specific threats were excised. The panel of 12 scientists which wrote the report concluded that the nation is more prepared for an accidental outbreak of potentially catastrophic diseases such as foot-and-mouth among cattle than one triggered by terrorists. The academy's National Research Council said that while working on its analysis, "Countering Agricultural Bioterrorism,'' questions arose over what scientific information about terrorism should and shouldn't be made public. But when the National Academies met with the department and the Office of Homeland Security, "the government did not assert that the report contained classified information,'' the council wrote. Scientists also had reservations about the report, said William E. Coalglazier, executive officer for the National Academy of Sciences, an independent research group chartered by Congress to guide the government on scientific matters. "Clearly the academy does not want to provide a road map for terrorists,'' Coalglazier said. Because the council used some classified documents for the assessment, the National Academies decided to remove information from a section that described specific case studies, Coalglazier said. Only government officials can access those excluded details. ``The guidance that we were sort of using in our heads was if there was specific information that could perhaps could be used to harm the public, then we would exclude it,'' Coalglazier said. Although the classified information was excluded, the analysis concluded that the United States has a lot of work to do to ensure farms and communities are protected from bioterrorism. Scientists and farm groups became worried the United States wouldn't be able to contain an outbreak when foot-and-mouth disease infected livestock herds in Britain last year. Although the disease doesn't harm humans, an outbreak can disrupt the economy and cost millions of dollars to control and eradicate. The terrorist attacks and appearance of anthrax-laden letters in 2001 added to concerns that diseases like mad cow disease could be used as weapons to poison food supplies, harm people, and sink the economy. The scientists pointed out several problems, but were particularly critical of gaps in communication between agricultural and intelligence officials, farm groups, and universities -- all of which have a role in helping farmers and the public cope with food and farm security threats. The council recommended that the government immediately: --Increase its efforts to understand plant and animal diseases and how they spread. -- Establish a network of laboratories that would respond, detect and diagnose diseases. --Form a nationwide system to manage and collect bioterrorism information. Although a bioterrorist attack seems unlikely, "it's not a matter of 'if.' It's a matter of 'when','' said R. James Cook, a committee member from Washington State University. "What's important to keep in mind, though, is that while there may be a very low probability now, what about in 20 years?'' ^------ On the Net: National Academy of Sciences: http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer Agriculture Department: http://www.usda.gov