Bioterror Attack on U.S. Milk Supply Examined in Stanford Business School Research Public Policy.

(From AScribe)

STANFORD, Calif. -- New testing procedures and hardening U.S. government safety rules could prevent a nightmare scenario of threats to the nation's milk supply, warns Prof. Lawrence Wein. His co-authored research paper has sparked a spirited debate about academic research and combating terrorism.

A mere 4 grams of botulinum toxin dropped into a milk production facility could cause serious illness and even death for 400,000 people in the United States. Investments that would cost the public only 1 cent more per half-gallon of milk could prevent this nightmare scenario, according to Lawrence M. Wein of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Wein, the Paul E. Holden Professor of Management Science, has been conducting a series of studies on the effects of various potential terrorist activities in United States. Not only milk, but soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, processed tomato products, and even grains - anything that goes through large-scale storage and production and rapid distribution - could be at risk for such an attack, with …