Agro-terrorism Issue Gets Media Attention in India
By Animesh Roul
There is an interesting article, “Micro Terror” in this week’s Outlook Magazine (June 11, 2007, New Delhi) which largely focuses on the agricultural bio terrorism and discusses how India can be an easy target for bio-terrorism with virtually no quarantine laws and other safeguards. I have interacted with the author during his research and my brief view on the threat can be read in the later part of the article.
A brief excerpt from Micro-Terror (Not in Order):
"The term bio-terrorism is associated with outbreaks of human diseases caused due to an intentional release of dreaded diseases such as anthrax. It also includes agro-terrorism that refers to the deliberate introduction of a plant or animal disease aimed at crippling a country's food security. There has been no proven case of agro-terrorism in the country so far but security and agricultural experts fear that India, given its agrarian base and varied ecosystems, is vulnerable to this threat. This is because related security measures are at best low. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between a natural outbreak and a deliberately caused attack."
"The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is working on a set of guidelines, to be released in August this year, to counter the possible entry of alien pests and bio-agents into the country. This will include the possibility of deliberate introduction of pests by vested interests and terrorists groups. Provisions for training of manpower to deal with such emergencies are also being worked on. The guidelines will be binding and shall be implemented by the ministry of home affairs with support from other ministries such as defence, health and agriculture."
Read Full Text Here.
A CTBlog Impact (?): Similar concern has been aired on CTBlog in March this year: Preventing Bio-terror Threat: India Moves A Step Ahead Cautiously
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