Mark Wheelis, Rocco Casagrande, Laurence V. Madden

About the author: Mark Wheelis is a microbiologist at the University of California, Davis, with an interest in the history of biological warfare and scientific aspects of chemical and biological arms control. Rocco Casagrande works for Surface Logix, Inc., and is interested in the development and testing of devices to detect and analyze biological weapons. Laurence V. Madden is a plant pathologist at Ohio State University, Wooster, who specializes in the epidemiology of plant diseases.

A bioterrorist attack on agriculture—deliberate introduction of animal or plant diseases—does not have the headline-grabbing power of other types of attack, such as an induced smallpox epidemic, but it could produce immense economic damage, especially through effects on exports. Attempts at containment would create further losses...