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Characterization of the Threat Resulting from Plant Pathogen Use as Anti-crop Bioweapons: An EU Perspective on Agroterrorism

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Practical Tools for Plant and Food Biosecurity

Part of the book series: Plant Pathology in the 21st Century ((ICPP,volume 8))

Abstract

This chapter provides an analysis specific for Europe of the risk of plant pathogens being used as anti-crop bioweapons, taking into account both the biological and human dimensions of the threat. An historical review of anti-crop bioweapons lays down the starting point of the characterization and contextualizes the threat in Europe. Four types of threat are developed and provide a structure for the analysis: (1) from military state programs to allegations of attacks; (2) from ‘rogue state’ hidden programs to claimed terror attacks; (3) biocrime, sabotage, private allegations and conspiracy theories on social media; (4) from the overzealous application of phytosanitary measures to the deliberate introduction of a regulated pest to justify trade protectionism. A database consisting of 21 important target crops and of 63 potentially dangerous pests (selected from a list of 570 pests) are combined with the development and categorization of ‘scenarios’. This is proposed as a starting point of a prospective approach to quantify the risk of agroterrorism in Europe. Four challenges (‘Convergence Tactics’, ‘Constraints’, ‘Climate’, and ‘Conspiracy’) are suggested to be the most important determinants of the forthcoming evolution of the threat. The prospect for Europe to successfully confront the increasing risk and challenges for the next decade is discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The most remote regions of the EU, known as the outermost regions are: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the research project PlantFoodSec, which received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement no. 261752. The views expressed in this chapter are exclusively those of the author and do not reflect the official policy of the INRA, the French Government, or the European Commission. The author thanks Bénédicte Moignot for her contribution to the development of the lists of target crops and pests, Ivan Sache, Corinne Le Fay-Souloy, Marc Barbier, Vincent Cardon, Julie Boumrar, John Mumford, John Holt and Adrian Leach for general discussion mixing themes of agroterrorism, epidemiology, sociology and risk analysis, and Maria Lodovica Gullino and Paola Colla for their substantial contribution to the management of the PlantFoodSec project. The author also thanks Megan Quilan and John Mumford for their help correcting the English and their editing work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR BIOGER, INRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 78850, Thiverval-Grignon, France

    Frédéric Suffert

  2. Cropbiosecurity and Agroterrorism Watch, Paris, France

    Frédéric Suffert

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  1. Frédéric Suffert
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Correspondence to Frédéric Suffert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Università degli Studi di Torino, AGROINNOVA, Grugliasco (TO), Italy

    Maria Lodovica Gullino

  2. Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA

    James P. Stack

  3. Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

    Jacqueline Fletcher

  4. Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, Ascot, Berks, United Kingdom

    John D. Mumford

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Suffert, F. (2017). Characterization of the Threat Resulting from Plant Pathogen Use as Anti-crop Bioweapons: An EU Perspective on Agroterrorism. In: Gullino, M., Stack, J., Fletcher, J., Mumford, J. (eds) Practical Tools for Plant and Food Biosecurity. Plant Pathology in the 21st Century, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46897-6_2

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