COLUMBIANA COUNTY Workshop aims to avert bioterrorism

Such an attack would create ripples in the economy and the country's food supply.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County health officials and Ohio State University veterinarians want to help county farmers and veterinarians fight the threat of germ warfare.
This threat, however, is aimed not at humans but at the thousands of cattle, hogs and other livestock across rural America.
Dixie Morris, county health director for homeland security, said the county health department is taking reservations through Feb. 20 for a workshop on livestock-targeted bioterrorism.
The workshop will be at 9 a.m. Feb. 28 at the East Liverpool Motor Lodge, and will include a buffet breakfast. There is no charge for the workshop, but registration is required, she said.
Speakers will be OSU veterinarians Jeffery LeJeune and William Shulaw.
Impact from attack
Morris said that although bioterrorism targeted at livestock might not directly threaten human life, widespread livestock disease could economically cripple or even destroy individual farm operations, weaken the overall economy and threaten the food supply.
She said although agriculture standards for disease control have always been strict in the United States, health officials recognize the potential for a terrorist-planted outbreak of livestock diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease or African swine fever.
She said the veterinarians will discuss how farmers and vets can recognize possible threats and what measures can be taken to protect livestock.
"We want to help farmers and vets to be on the alert," Morris said. "A farmer might find diseased livestock on his farm and start calling his neighbors. Farmers might call one another, or a veterinarian might receive clusters of calls about the same disease. They shouldn't rule out terrorism as the cause."
For more information or to register, call the county health department at (330) 424-0272.
tullis@vindy.com