Biosecurity Needs the Public’s Attention
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Modern media has a lot of competition for attention, so they often appeal to the public’s emotions to get them to pay attention. But how can society remain protected against the risks that so often go unnoticed, like making sure our food supply is secure? David Stiefel with the Nuclear Threat Initiative is advocating for more federal action and funding towards agricultural biosecurity.
Stiefel...”If the public doesn't care or pay attention, then we're not gonna solve the problems. When you look at the front of Kansas City Star, Washington Post, whatever you're reading, if on the A1 page, there's a sick, dying baby, that pulls on your heartstrings. If there is a cow that is sick, that looks sad, but not as emotional as necessarily that baby. And if there is a plant that is wilting that has almost no emotion attached to it, so like we are fighting just human experience of how to prioritize, the how food and ag get deprioritized when it comes to what calls the public's attention. The biggest thing that I think that USDA can do, and that this administration can do, is keep this drumbeat with farmers. Keep this drumbeat with just the American public that we need to protect our food. This is actually something we need to secure, and it's a national security priority. All of those other things will fall in line because Congress will be forced to act, the executive agencies will be forced to act, because it's not just like, how much is the future for corn this year? Right? That's one statement. We'd like to talk about the economics, but it's way more than just that.”
To learn more about NTI’s work, visit nti.org.
