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Today, a number of possible BW agents have been recognized that could be used against crops 10 AGROTERRORISM or livestock animals (see tables A-7 and A-8 below). These lists, however, are by no means exhaustive. Table A-7: Potential Anti-Crop BW agents Bacterial diseases Bacterial agents Rice blight Corn blight Xanthomonas oryzae Pseudomonas alboprecipitans Viral diseases Viral agents Tobacco mosaic Sugar-beet curly top Fungal diseases Late blight of potato Rice blast Black stem rust of cereals Brown spot of rice Tobacco mosaic virus Curly top virus Fungal agents Phytophthora infestans Pyricularia oryzae Puccina graminis tritici Cochliobolus miyabeanus Table A-8: Potential Anti-Animal BW Agents Rickettsial diseases (Bacteria) Heartwater of sheep and goats Viral diseases Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) Rinderpest (cattle plague) African swine fever Aujeszky’s disease Newcastle disease (poultry) Avian influenza Fungal diseases Aspergillosis (poultry) Rickettsial agents Cowdria ruminantium Viral agents Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus Rinderpest virus African swine fever virus Herpes virus Newcastle virus Avian influenza virus Fungal agents Aspergillus fumigatus Targeting Crops and Animals: World War I and World War II The devastating consequences of crop diseases were keenly felt by Germany during World War I, when large stores of potatoes were destroyed by potato blight (Phytophthora infestans), the same disease that accelerated the famines in Ireland during the mid-1800s.

S. program be dismantled. 10 April 1972 Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States sign the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. S. military analysts discover that Egypt possessed armored vehicles equipped with protection against nuclear, chemical, and biological (NBC) warfare. This leads to concern that Warsaw Pact forces, supported by the Soviet Union, were prepared to use NBC weapons. 1973–1974 The Soviet Union initiates and establishes Biopreparat, a civilian organization devoted to producing biological warfare agents.

S. pmcd. asp. ABRIN Abrin is a highly toxic protein that can be used as a poison. But like ricin (a toxin found in the castor bean plant, Ricinus communis), abrin is more likely to be used as a poison for murder or for assassinating certain targets than as a component in a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). Abrin can be extracted from the seeds of the Abrus precatorius plant, the beans of which are known as Rosary peas, precatory beans, crab’s eye, or the jequirity bean. Provided the bean is well masticated, one such seed from this plant can be enough to kill a human adult.