Emergency Diseases

[John Young]

The Department of Agriculture today issued an emergency
announcement about the spread of "chronic wasting disease"
(CWD) among cattle and deer in the American West:

  http://cryptome.org/doa092701.txt

The disease can be fatal to humans. Is there any tie of CWD to
cowpox?

A biowar attacker might commandeer US beloved dogs and cats 
as trusted Stingers. Or merely infect a couple of hundred to terrify
millions of owners who are dependent upon the therapy.

A problem with with cadaver dogs like those in use at WTC are 
the diseases they spread, vermin they host. Especially those
picked up during overseas disaster service that slip quietly 
into the US below the spectrum of quarantine radar. There is
no clear picture of what the thousands of non-US victims of 
WTC may have been carrying.

Pets can be used to carry encrypted or stegoed communications
in wearable or implanted devices. Animals have been used to transmit
secret messages for almost as long as humans.  Pigeons and other
birds are used heavily in less developed countries for that purpose,
but hawks are used to take them out. 

Use of overseas human adoptees as carriers is a complicated
challenge.