Wichita ? The United States is unprepared for foot-and-mouth disease, an industry leader told Kansas cattle producers Thursday.

“The government does not yet have its act together on responding to a foot-and-mouth outbreak,” said Rick McCarty, executive director for issues management at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn.

More than 850 cattle producers from across Kansas are gathering in Wichita for their annual convention, which ends today.

McCarty told ranchers the scariest thing now facing the U.S. cattle industry is foot-and-mouth disease, which the nation’s Homeland Security Department has identified as a potential terrorist weapon.

He outlined a homeland security scenario in which a terrorist introduction of the disease at five sites quickly would spread across the nation, going undetected for at least five days. By the end of 30 days, cattle in 40 states likely would be infected.

The agency estimates between 24 million to 40 million animals would be lost, he said.

Unlike mad cow disease, foot-and-mouth disease cannot be spread to humans. But it is highly contagious and would have a greater economic impact on the cattle industry because entire herds would have to be destroyed, he said.

“That is what keeps us up at night,” McCarty said.

His comments came nearly two years after the first case of mad cow disease, the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was found in the United States. Although many international markets were closed after the discovery, domestic consumption remained strong and livestock producers continued to enjoy high cattle prices.

“We were prepared for BSE. That is why we managed that so well,” McCarty said.

While the BSE case changed many rules affecting the livestock industry and beef processing, it did not change the growth in beef demand or consumer confidence in it, he said.

“The media wouldn’t leave it alone. The activists wouldn’t leave it alone,” he said. “It truly wouldn’t go away.”

The mad cow crisis also showed livestock officials that while the media can provide information, their effects are limited, he said. It also taught officials that consumers want reassurance – and they believe the government and industry to be credible sources as long as both are telling the same story, he said.

Ongoing consumer surveys conducted by the association also have found that nutrition is the one thing consumers worry about all the time, with price sensitivity playing a far smaller role in their food choices than expected.