News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Although no successful attacks on the US agriculture and food system have been reported in the past decade, the nation's efforts to defend the system came in for a barrage of criticism yesterday about a lack of coordination and various other shortcomings.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health delegates meeting in Paris today declared that rinderpest, a highly contagious disease in cattle and other animals, is eradicated, marking the first time humans have snuffed out an animal disease in the wild.

(CIDRAP News) – In a move that sets the stage for the official eradication of the deadly cattle plague rinderpest, animal health authorities are ending all field activities to control the disease, theUnited Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Under a schedule laid out yesterday by federal agriculture officials, a nationwide livestock identification system to help in the investigation and control of animal disease outbreaks will be fully operational by 2009.

(CIDRAP News) – Mexico closed its border to livestock from the United States last week because of concern that a herd of US cattle bound for Mexico had foot-and-mouth disease, but the border was quickly reopened when the disease was found to be a relatively harmless look-alike.