UNKNOWN VIRUS HITS KANSAS WHEAT FIELDS

06/03/04 | vanity

[genefromjersey]

An unidentified wheat virus has appeared in fields throughout western Kansas. The unknown pathogen causes the leaves to turn yellow and die.These symptoms are also associated with head death,wheat streak mosaic,and freezing; however,University of Kansas researchers have ruled out these possible causes.

Researchers note evidence of the virus is in almost every field-although it has not yet destroyed the crop.

University of Kansas virologists,with the help of researchers in Winnipeg,are trying to identify the proteins involved in the destruction of affected plants,so the genetic sequences may be compared to pathogens found in other parts of the world.

One hypothesis-that nobody is mentioning yet-is bioterrorism.

We are understandably alarmed by the prospect of being attacked with pathogens that are deadly to humans: anthrax,tularemia,ebola,smallpox,etc. - but attacks on our food supplies : grains,tubers,fruits and livestock can be just as deadly over a period of time ; and can be carried out with little risk to the terrorist,and even less risk of detection.

Consider,for example a presumed terrorist called "Jafar the Pilot",whose whereabouts the FBI would very much like to know. Jafar was trained in the use of explosives and is a qualified pilot-so the logical assumption is he would use this skill to hijack a plane,turn it into a flying bomb, and go out in a horrible blaze of glory - but suppose our Qaeda Bird decides to do something a bit less spectacular ?

If one is on an approved jihad, one may do what is neccessary to avoid notice or capture. One may shave,eat food that is unclean,drink alcoholic beverages,go to a Christian church,etc.Imagine Jafar doing all these things,and,with beautifully forged documentation,becoming Jose,the crop-duster pilot !

One need not be a Jafar the Pilot to spread crop or stock-killing viruses. One need only drive along country roads with the window down: tossing out a handful of destruction every so often-like a demonic version of Johnny Appleseed.( I've heard of dedicated marijuana users doing just that with the unsmokeable seeds; but how they remember where they planted their crop is beyond me !)

These are people who hate us. These are also people with the patience to delay their revenge for a growing season or two...

[Jeff Head]

Very troubling possibilities here. Hope that it is something natural and not spreading.

[cripplecreek]

I havent forgotten when Bill Maher said that he hoped someone would someone would infect our livestock with a disease to prevent us from eating them.

However I'm a conservative nazi and not capable of rational thought so what do I know.

[Dog Gone]

I'm having a hard time envisioning al-Qaida in white lab coats.

White tennis shoes with fuses attached, maybe.

[jonascord]

Even if it were bio-terrorism, do you actually think the clintonoids rooted in the government will ever admit it?

[neutrino]

Scary. And our universities are loaded with folks who would love to help them research it. Can you say H1-B visa?

[sergeantdave]

Well, seeing as how the communists at Greenpeace tried to keep GE crops out of Africa so the citizens would starve to death, I'd check them out first. Greenfreaks has a long record of opposing GE crops. I don't know if Greenfreaks was behind the eco-terrorism in Europe where GE crops were destroyed, but yeh, check out the commies at Greenfreaks first.

And if they're behind spreading viruses, call the French to blow them up. It's about the only thing the French are good at.

[Salamander]

Don't forget the head of PETA hoping that foot & mouth disease would hit the US.

[but I'm just a dumb conservative hillbilly and not capable of intelligent thought so what do I know]

[netmilsmom]

Glad I'm on Atkins!!!

[Crazieman]

I haven't heard anything about this on the local news.

[TomGuy]

A link to the story:

Kansas wheat farmers warned about new pest

Kansas wheat farmers warned about new pest

BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR

The Wichita Eagle

HAYS -

As if drought, freeze, army cutworms, streak mosaic and Russian aphids weren't enough, there's a new pest in the wheat fields of western Kansas this year.

"We're pretty sure it's a virus," said Kansas State University wheat breeder Joe Martin, who works at the KSU research station at Hays. "It showed up early and at first glance, we thought it was streak mosaic. But it's not. It kills the oldest leaves of the plant and finally kills the head."

Martin said he's seen evidence of the pathogen in virtually every field he's checked in western Kansas.

"The good news is, it's not prevalent in the fields, it's very spotty," he said. "But it's everywhere."

Martin said farmers may have mistaken the early symptoms for wheat streak and the later head death to freeze. He encouraged producers to be on the lookout in their fields.

Researchers have no idea what the pathogen is, where it came from or how it spreads.

Dallas Seifers, professor of plant pathology at Fort Hays State University, is doing most of the research to try to determine exactly what the pest is and how it works.

"Right now, our biggest job is to maintain a supply of it long enough that we can sequence the symptomatic protein," he said.

Most of the infected plants in wheat fields are already dead, he said.

Seifers has attempted to create symptomatic plants in the laboratory to increase the supply of the pathogen for research but has not been entirely successful, he said.

"The worst case scenario is I won't be able to maintain it long enough and I'll have to wait until next spring and start over," Seifers said.

Seifers said there is a possibility that the pathogen is showing up this year because of the season's unusual weather patterns and that it wouldn't show up in a more normal year.

"We're just happy that it is not in large enough numbers to have an economic impact this year and we hope it will be spotty if it shows up next year," he said.

For more on this story, see Friday's Wichita Eagle.

[Myrddin]

Glad I'm on Atkins!!!

You may be on Atkins. What is being fed to the cows and chickens that comprise a staple part of the Atkins diet? I submit that attacking wheat and corn crops will undermine the beef and chicken supply.

[DonaldDuke]

I'm having a hard time envisioning al-Qaida in white lab coats.

Don't. Al Zawahiri is a physician. So was the late chief of Hamas. One of the terrorists on the latest BOLO is a neurologist. Al Quaida has generally had no trouble at all recruiting well educated people.

[Crazieman]

But I thought Al-Qaida was a product of poverty caused by imperial US capitalist policy!

/sarcasm

[Freebird Forever]

What's your source for this?

It should be noted that there a number of virus's common to wheat.

From the Compendium of Wheat Diseases, 2nd Ed.

Diseases Caused by Viruses and Viruslike Agents;
Agropyron Mosaic; Barley Stripe Mosaic; Barley Yellow Dwarf; Barley Yellow Striate Mosaic; Barley Yellow Stripe; Brome Mosaic; Northern Cereal Mosaic; African Cereal Streak; Cereal Tillering; Cocksfoot Mottle; Enanismo; Maize Streak; Oat Sterile Dwarf; Rice Black-Streaked Dwarf; Rice Hoja Blanca; Tobacco Mosaic; Wheat Chlorotic Streak; Wheat Dwarf; Soilborne Wheat Mosaic; Wheat (Cardamom) Mosaic Streak; Wheat Spot Mosaic; Wheat Streak Mosaic; American Wheat Striate Mosaic; Chloris Striate Mosaic (Australian Wheat Striate Mosaic); Eastern Wheat Striate; European Wheat Striate Mosaic; Wheat Yellow Leaf; Wheat Yellow Mosaic (Wheat Spindle Streak Mosaic); Russian Winter Wheat Mosaic; Other Viruses; Seedborne Wheat Yellows;

[firewalk]

.

[swarthyguy]

Actually, you very correct. The Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt drew on professionals - lawyers, doctors, the Algerian islamists have also been technocrats and engineers, and many, many educated professionals are radical islamis.

Atta was a civil engineer, and talented according to his German professor advisor.

[TomGuy]

Aafia Siddiqui, 32, a former Houston resident and a neurological sciences expert, is the subject of a worldwide dragnet, wanted by the FBI as a terrorist recruited by al-Qaida to help attack the United States this summer.

She is part of the FBI alert from last week. She has a Doctorate.

Houston Chronicle article gives more info on her

[netmilsmom]

I thought they were fed soy products.

[B4Ranch]

The guys in meth labs don't wear lab coats.

One doesn't need to be a lab tech to do a Google search to determine how to manufacture a poison deadly to any of our crops.

When you are driving down the highway take notice of the HAZMAT signs on trucks. With the right manual you can determine just exactly what chemical the truck is carrying, and how many pounds require a HAZMAT sign.

When the driver stops, hijack the truck or just break into the trailer and bingo, you are on you way to becoming a food terrorist.

The HAZMAT signs are for firefighters and terrorists alike! Now if that isn't a contradiction in uses, I don't know what is.

Google is great for formulas and technical information . Any guy who flunked high school could play with it for a few days and figure out how to make some of the most deadly gasses known to man.

We are so exposed that I cannot believe our borders aren't manned by Marine patrols 24/7.

[megatherium]

Two things come to mind.

One, is that very similar varieties of wheat are planted over enormous amounts of real estate; what ecologists refer to as "mono cropping". This makes the potential damage caused by one virus much greater. The same principle is observed in computers: a virus written to infect Microsoft XP machines has a much greater potential to do damage than a virus written for another operating system.

Two, there is at least one expert who suspects West Nile was deliberately introduced to North America (can't remember who he is, he was at Fort Dietrich and is now a professor in Kansas? my memory is fuzzy here). He thinks it was a test or warning. Anyone with the technical wherewithal to do that can handle a wheat virus.

By the way, a virus destroyed 1/3 of the North American corn crop in the late 60s. A colleague of mine studies the vector, a leaf hopper (a relative of the cicada, incidentally).

[sarasota]

I'm putting the onus on GMO's. It's going to breed all kinds of mutations.

[DonaldDuke]

Hope that it is something natural and not spreading.

Pro-med has a little snippet of info tacked on to the original article by the pro-med mod:

[A 28-kD protein has been specifically associated with infected plants. More research is needed to determine the mode of spread of the pathogen. Also needed is more information about the protein and its relationship to disease expression. - Mod.DH]

[Myrddin]

I thought they were fed soy products.

Wheat is used to fatten beef for market. Premium beef is "corn fed" to improve flavor. Chickens eat lots of corn. I'm sure soy figures into the mix to improve protein content.

[genefromjersey]

ProMed

[ladyinred]

It's just another isolated incident!!!

[hedgetrimmer]

PING

[FrogMom]

Ever read "No Blade of Grass"?

[sionnsar]

I'm having a hard time envisioning al-Qaida in white lab coats.

I'm not. I've met Muslims who are quite intelligent but when provoked are surprisingly irrational (from my perspective). It would be a big mistake to underestimate what they are capable of.

[Physicist]

What makes you think that GMO's are more likely to mutate than "wild" strains?

[sionnsar]

ca 1970 SF, Christopher ?

[TrueBeliever9]

Imagine Jafar doing all these things,and,with beautifully forged documentation,becoming Jose,the crop-duster pilot !

Many Arabs are passing for hispanic. I hears that some are now changing their names to American Indian names - which is also working for them.

[mississippi red-neck]

This will probably cause the price of gas to rise at the pump.

[Western Phil]

"By the way, a virus destroyed 1/3 of the North American corn crop in the late 60s"

They had to raise seed corn of virus resistant varieties in Hawaii or someplace in the off season to have some to plant for a crop in the states the next year.

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for the ping, HT and tanks for the post, Gene.

Agricultural bio-terrorism-the specter at the dinner table
May 2004

http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2004/May/agroBio.xml

A bioterrorist attack on our agricultural infrastructure or the safety of our food supply would cause widespread damage, both to public health and to the nation's economy.

The damage done by an agro/bio-terrorism attack would occur in a domino effect. It would start as environmental damage-diseased animals and crops; and proceed to psychological damage and social disruption when people began to be afraid to go to the grocery store or to eat out. Finally, damage to the economy would occur-other countries would refuse to accept our meat and agriculture products. Lastly, the falling futures markets could produce a stock market crash.

===

Agricultural Bioterrorism

http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/davis.html

called agroterrorism. Why? A hard look at the data will show us that the agriculture industry is unmatched in revenue and scope.
Food and fiber account for approximately 13% of the GDP and 24 million Americans are employed in agriculture directly -- that's 2% of the population.
In 1997, the agriculture industry generated over $1 trillion worth of business, a large portion (roughly $140 billion) of which was derived from export markets.
America has nearly 2 million farms where crops and animals are raised to provide the steady flow of high-quality, safe, and inexpensive foods to our tables and to those around the world.
America has become the world's leader in food production. In 1997, corn generated nearly $20 billion in sales; soybeans $16 billion; cattle $40 billion; and poultry $22 billion. In Iowa alone there was over $3 billion in sales of corn; $2.7 billion in soybeans; and $3 billion in pigs in 1997.

A terrorist attack on U.S. agricultural products would be disastrous. If any one of these commodities were to be significantly impacted by a bioterrorist event the results could be catastrophic. But the impact of a devastating attack on our food supply would not be limited just to the farmer. Businesses such as farm suppliers, transportation, grocery stores, restaurants, equipment distributors, and in the end consumers, all pay the price. Small towns could potentially be wiped out and put the supply of our food in peril, perhaps for a long time.

The economy would suffer greatly from agroterrorism.

Targeting the food supply

An attack against animals or crops is generally viewed as more benign and less offensive than if humans fell dead from a direct assault. Agricultural terrorism is not about killing animals; it is about crippling an economy. To that end agents foreign to U.S. livestock/poultry industries and crops would be preferred by terrorists.

[Focault's Pendulum]

It's that wheat germ again.....damn Kretchmer.

[sionnsar]

From my collection: "No blade of grass", John Christopher, (c)1956, 1st Equinox (Simony & Shyster pub) 1975, ISBN 0-380-00319-8. Right?

[ChefKeith]

You seen this?

[jonathonandjennifer]

wheat is for people, corn is for cows.

[WestCoastGal]

The terrorscum have said (amongst other things)that we will not recognize the attack on our country at first. The Feds have worried about the food supply for months, I just read something about a grant being given to a college to work on this. It could be a little late. Ya think?

Now, about 2 months ago I opened a box of cereal and inside was the ugliest looking web that looked like cheesecloth and who knows what else was below that. I haven't had cereal since.

[genefromjersey]

Dog,they don't NEED lab coats: just folding money.

The old "Iron Curtain" countries - especially Russia - are loaded with military goodies-including chemical and biowarfare agents; and they are cash-starved.

If you were to check, you'd find all manner of "dual-use" research and development facilities in places where Russia ran things. They called it the Biopreparat system,and it has been in continuous operation since at least 1974.

India, Pakistan,Syria,Egypt,Iraq,etc. all have or had biopreparat setups,and the infamous "aspirin factory" in Somalia might well have been just such a facility - politics aside.

[MarkL]

I'm having a hard time envisioning al-Qaida in white lab coats.

White tennis shoes with fuses attached, maybe.

Well, don't. Many of these P.O.S.s have gotten the best education in the world, right here in the US. Take a look at the woman who was on the list released by the FBI last week. She's got an advanced degree from MIT.

Just because these people have backwards beliefs, and are completely amoral (by our standards) does NOT mean that they're not capable of becoming world class scientists and use their knowledge and skills to kill us.

Mark

[sarasota]

Man's incessant interference with nature. Just my opinion, Physicist.

[FrogMom]

Correct.

Some virus hit all the grasses (including wheat) in the world.

Results were pretty ugly.

[Physicist]

Man's incessant interference with nature. Just my opinion, Physicist.

OK, you don't like it. But how does it increase the mutation rate? That's a quantitative question, not a matter of opinion.

[sarasota]

Ah, but I can't quantify my answer because only science will either confirm or deny. And in the case of scientific discovery and subsequent "proof", it will still be a matter of opinion (to me). It doesn't really matter to me. We continue to reap the consequences of our actions, be they rewards or punishments. I'm in the food business for 25 years and I've watched the bounce from "real" food (no packages, cans only) to "functional" food (processed foods in which nutrition has been removed only to be put back by food scientists) and now GMO's which are everywhere unless they are marked FDA Organic. The choice is ours.

[television is just wrong]

absolutely, an attack on one product will affect everything else. That is what our enemies are counting on.

[DannyTN]

"I'm having a hard time envisioning al-Qaida in white lab coats. "

No but I can envision Chinese who trained in American universities in white lab coats providing bioterror to Al Quaeda.

[ChefKeith]

Ruh Ro I'm in trouble now (FReepMail on way covering this topic)

[Mitchell]

Ping. You might be interested in this.