Contingency plans for accidental incursions of agricultural diseases have been refined in line with rising international concerns about bio-terrorism, agricultural officials say.
But the higher level of watchfulness for "agri-terrorism" relies on the same mechanisms of surveillance, identification and reaction set up in contingency plans for a potentially catastrophic disease arriving
unintentionally.
"Whether the source is a terrorist or a careless traveller, a key issue is how we react to the arrival of a disease," said Derek Belton, director of animal biosecurity for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
But he noted that in the event of New Zealand being attacked by a large and well-organised terrorist group, the situations faced by veterinary officials would vary according to how widely a disease was spread before it was discovered.
When, in 1997, South Island farmers reportedly smuggled rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) into the country in a farmer's socks, they made it virtually impossible to eradicate by dropping infected rabbits out of aircraft all over Central Otago to create an epidemic.
Terrorists could adopt similar tactics to import, for example, foot-and-mouth disease from Asia.
The resulting outbreak would slash the national standard of living by 25 per cent.
Even a successfully eradicated outbreak of foot-and-mouth could cost New Zealand $4.2 billion, the ministry says.
"There is a rising consciousness of terrorism in general - beyond agri-terrorism - that has fuelled demand for preparedness," Dr Belton said.
New Zealand had a special window of vulnerability because of its economic reliance on exports from pastoral farming.
In Britain, agricultural authorities have announced they are stepping up surveillance against bio-terrorism amid concerns that rogue groups could target the food chain by seeking to introduce animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth.
A New Zealand exercise last month used the scenario of a foot-and-mouth outbreak capable of costing the nation up to 8 per cent of its gross domestic product.
A confirmed outbreak would result in all exports of meat, animal by-products, wool and dairy products stopping until three months after the last identified case, or new supply contracts had been negotiated.
- NZPA
