Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

serious public health challenge. Nevertheless, the potential for bioterrorist attacks against
agricultural targets (agroterrorism) is increasingly also recognized as a national security
threat, particularly since the events of September 11, 2001 and the anthrax attacks that shortly
followed (Smolinski et al. 2003, Monke 2006).
The U.S. agricultural industry is vulnerable to an intentional RVF attack on livestock
in North America. First, a RVF agroterrorist attack would generate panic and fear (of human
illness or consumption of infected agricultural products) in a large portion of the population
(Lane et al. 2001). Second, a RVF agroterrorist attack could severely damage the economy
(Ackerman and Giroux 2006). Paarlberg et al. (2002) estimated that a Foot and Mouth
disease (FMD) outbreak similar to the one that occurred in the United Kingdom in 2001
could result in $14 billion in U.S. farm income losses. A RVF outbreak in the United States
has the potential to have a similar effect on the U.S. economy. Containment and eradication
of the disease as well as disposal of contaminated products would be costly to individuals,
businesses, and governments (Monke 2006). Further harm to the economy would result due
to decreased sales associated with public fear of agricultural product consumption and/or
decreased food availability (Monke 2006). And U.S. revenues from agricultural product
exports (e.g., $60 billion in 2003) would be lost due to OIE trade restrictions associated with
RVF (Monke 2006). The cost of RVF-induced trade bans between the Horn of Africa and
the Arabian Peninsula has been estimated to be as much as U.S. $75 million per year
(Chevalier et al. 2004a).
The relative ease for terrorists to procure and disseminate animal pathogens
(Ackerman and Giroux 2006) is another reason the U.S. agricultural industry is vulnerable to
an intentional RVF attack on livestock. Terrorists could obtain the virus from diseased
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