Washington, DC -- Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) today introduced two bills to improve federal, state, and local governments' ability to prevent and respond to an attack on the U.S. food supply. "The nation's agriculture industry is crucial to our prosperity, yet it does not receive the protection it needs," said Senator Akaka. "Our food supply system could be accidentally or intentionally contaminated, damaging our economy, and, most importantly, costing lives. This could be severely detrimental to my home state of Hawaii which generates more than $1.9 billion in agricultural sales annually."

The first measure, the Homeland Security Food and Agriculture Act, will enhance coordination between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies responsible for food and agriculture security. The second bill, the Agriculture Security Assistance Act, will increase coordination between federal and state, local, and tribal officials and offer financial and technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, and veterinarians to improve preparedness

This legislation comes after the President of Interpol last week warned that the consequences of an attack on livestock are "substantial" and "relatively little" is being done to prevent such an attack.

Senator Akaka said, "Events of the past two years have reminded Americans of the vulnerability of our food supply. In 2003, mad cow disease surfaced for the first time in Washington State and various strains of the Avian Influenza began cropping up across Asia and in the United States throughout 2004."

The current animal disease vaccination policy employed by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) involves sending U.S.-owned foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease vaccine back to Britain, where it is produced, to be activated. "In the event of a FMD outbreak, we cannot afford to wait three weeks to start vaccinating livestock," Senator Akaka warned. "Why is the United States outsourcing this critical security function? USDA should either store ready-to-use vaccines in the U.S. or examine ways to activate the vaccines in this country."

The Agriculture Security Assistance Act requires USDA to investigate the costs and benefits of the United States producing "ready-to-use" vaccines for animal diseases and to issue regulations requiring veterinarians to be knowledgeable in foreign animal diseases in order to certified. The bill also creates grant programs to increase biosecurity on farms and ranches, develop statistical modeling capabilities for epidemiological assessments, and facilitate greater participation of state and local animal health officials in agriculture security preparedness.

The second measure, the Homeland Security Food and Agriculture Act, directs the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to assist states and localities in developing agricultural emergency response plans and to assemble a task force of emergency management providers, including state health and agriculture officials, to identify and distribute best practices in the area of biosecurity.

"Just last week, members of the Hawaii State Health Department met with their counterparts from other Western and Pacific states to address pandemic flu planning. The Homeland Security Food and Agriculture Act would enable more collaboration of state animal and healthcare specialists, which I believe is critical to protecting the U.S. from such an outbreak," stated Senator Akaka.

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report requested by Senator Akaka and released today, the United States still lacks a coordinated approach to agricultural security. The report, "Much is Being Done to Protect Agriculture from a Terrorist Attack, but Important Challenges Remain," (www.gao.gov) pointed to shortcomings in federal coordination and technical assistance to states and localities and insufficient credentialing of Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified veterinarians. Also highlighted was USDA's inability to deploy vaccines within 24 hours of an animal disease outbreak as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9 due to the need to activate the vaccine doses in Great Britain.

"We must have a coordinated approach to dealing with the possibility of an attack on the U.S. food supply, which could affect millions of Americans. While improvements have occurred since I first voiced my concerns over food and agriculture security in 2001, critical vulnerabilities remain," said Senator Akaka.

Senator Akaka first introduced agriculture security legislation, S. 2767, the Agriculture Security Preparedness Act, on July 22, 2002. He continued his efforts in the 108th Congress by introducing S. 427, the Agriculture Security Assistance Act, and S. 430, the Agriculture Security Preparedness Act, on February 24, 2003.