WASHINGTON/ Anxiety Center -- It's a topic that is just beginning to appear on the radar screens of nations more apt to worry about missile shields, mutually assured destruction, and weapons of mass destruction. It's the growing likelihood that England's sudden outburst of foot-and-mouth disease may herald a form of animal rights terrorism that ratchets up the stakes in a war that has long been waged against any sort of agricultural, commercial and research activity seen as a threat.

In the United States, animal diseases, particularly those deliberately spread by animal rights terrorists, would be a major threat to the $55 billion-a-year livestock industry. If, in fact, the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom was the work of animal rights terrorists, it rapidly achieved the goal of having a devastating effect on that nation's economy.

No group has claimed responsibility for the hoof-and-mouth outbreak, but Ananova, a British news service, reported on April 8th that "The foot-and-mouth outbreak could have been started deliberately by someone who stole a test-tube of the virus from a laboratory." The Sunday Express reported that a container of the virus "went missing from a secret government lab at Porton Down two months before the crisis began." That kind of coincidence should not be ignored and, presumably, law enforcement authorities in the UK are investigating.

In the April 9th edition of this column, I noted an Agweb News report that Ingrid Newkirk, the co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, had let it be known she hoped the disease would sweep the US as well. Her justification was that destruction of US livestock would "wake up" consumers and only bring economic harm to "those who raised animals in farm-style concentration camps." Newkirk reportedly told the Environmental News Network that FMD would be "good for animals, good for human health, and good for the environment."

Mark Urlaub, director of the US Department of Agriculture's biosecurity program told a conference on terrorism preparedness in Salt Lake City that agro-terrorism would have "instantaneous effects on the economy. We are talking about enormous values in commodities lost. It can destroy trade relations between countries."

The Washington Times reported that Urlaub told those at the conference that "Investigators are taking another look at the 1989 "medfly" outbreak in California. The Mediterranean fruit fly attacks more than 250 species of fruits and berries, thus posing a huge threat to California, home to a $25 billion-a-year farming industry. A group reportedly calling themselves "the breeders" did claim responsibility.

The fact is that animal rights extremists have been increasing their terrorist activities for years now and the attacks have been international in scope. In the United Kingdom, the Association of Medical Research Charities withdrew its funds from a bank that refused to hold shares in the Huntingdon Life Sciences Group. At the same time, both the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and Bioindustry Association announced they, too, were considering withdrawing business from banks and other financial institutions if they cave into the threats of animal rights extremists.

Huntington Life Sciences, a US-based firm, was the target of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance in early May. Scheduled speakers included Kevin Kjonnes who, previously, had been the spokesperson for the Animal Liberation Front in the wake of a break-in at a University of Minnesota laboratory. He subsequently traveled to England to observe the anti-HLS campaign there.

Led by Jane Goodall and filmmaker David Attenborough, groups in the Netherlands were successful in getting the Dutch government to stop research involving chimpanzees at the Biomedical Primate Research Center in Pijswijk, the only such facility in Europe.

Police continue to investigate suspected sabotage in April at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center in Hillsboro and, at the Cornell University Duck Laboratory, some 250 ducklings were stolen with credit claimed by a spray-painted signature from the North American Animal Liberation front. The incident took place during "World Week for Animals in Laboratories." Ironically, the Cornell Laboratory does research dedicated to production, testing and distribution of vaccines used to protect the domestic duck population.

Also in April, a medical research company, ICRC, in Castroville, California, was raided and more than two dozen research rabbits were stolen. The company raises rabbits for the development of antibodies used to detect disease in plants and animals.

While Americans turn their attention to summer vacations, gardening, and recreational activities, animal rights activists will meet in a suburb of Washington, DC on June 30th through July 5th, for an annual conference. The groups represented are a who's who of those tacitly promoting the growing wave animal rights terrorism.

They are People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, In Defense of Animals, the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, Farm Sanctuary, the American-Vivisection Society, Animal Protection Institute, Doris Day Animal league, E Magazine, Fund for Animals, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the National Anti-Vivisection Society.

Among the speakers scheduled are Craig Rosebraugh, a press spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, former PETA founder, Alex Pacheco, and Elliot Katz from In Defense of Animals. Do you see a pattern here?

As with the self-proclaimed environmentalists, animal rights activists are utterly indifferent to the medical breakthroughs that have resulted from research conducted initially with animals. That this research has saved human lives is a matter of total indifference to them. In a similar vein, animal rights activists believe that humans should not eat animals for any reason as they constantly advocate the vegetarian diet. These are, of course, the same people who protest the wearing of fur coats and other similar uses of animal end products.

Terrorism as an instrument of war against Capitalism is not limited to the animal rights fanatics. It extends as well to those who want to harm agriculture as well. One website, www.irational.org, offers the "SuperWeed kit 1.0" to be used in an attack on farms using genetically modified seeds for various food crops. Terrorists are encouraged to trespass on such farms to sow seeds said to be impervious to herbicides. "Alternatively," the site says, "you could choose to create your own propaganda campaign threatening biotech corporate interests with this genetic weapon. Whatever you do, the threat is often as effective as the execution."

As recently as May 22nd, the Associated Press reported that "The FBI was investigating whether a radical environmentalist organization was responsible for a fire ignited by explosives that destroyed two buildings and several vehicles at a tree nursery" in Clatskanie, Oregon. This kind of violence will escalate.

Who's targeted? Any company that engages in scientific research. Any company involved in real estate development. Any company that mines or drills for natural resources. Any company that owns a chain of restaurants. Whole industries that include timber, ranching, farming, energy, chemicals. It's a long list.

Eco-terrorists and animal rights terrorists are no longer just a small bunch of "loonies", but rather an increasingly well organized and funded group of organizations, among whose members are those prepared to wreak havoc on the advancement of scientific knowledge, the provision of food, and the economies of Capitalist nations.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, "Warning Signs", posted on the website of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information on scare campaigns. The Center's site is www.anxietycenter.com.