41–50 of 219 posts
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(Implied) invalid generalization, or confirmation bias. This is a good reason to not eat that particular meat. In general, however, meat is an S-tier source of nutrition, vitamins, and minerals.
Why add "proven" before science?
Nobody expects the USDA to handle such problems with "unproven science", for whatever it could be.
For decades they've made the sterilized flies by exposing them to gamma radiation that damages their reproductive system and it's been effective.
Am I getting doubtful of every announcement from this administration or are they trying to tackle conspiracy theories from the start?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
DOGE. It was ran by USAID.
It was failing long before this. The border used to be down by Panama.
In a critical time when monitoring and action were desperately needed, we eliminated the agency that'd do that.
A story from 2020 about how effective the US funded anti-screwworm program used to be. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/flesh-ea... Archive link: https://archive.ph/3sD9d
Why is it "used to be"? I've heard about the program before and thought it was incredible. What happened to it? Edit: Brief research tells me the screwworms broke though to Mexico in November 2024 after cases started increasing north of the Darian Gap throughout 2023 ( https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/program-update/new-world-scr... ). It does seem like the funding now is happening through USDA rather than USAID ( htt…
USAID was in charge of the program which monitored screwworm spread in central and south america. The way you combat screwworm is by releasing sterile male flies in screwworm outbreak areas.
Everything I'm reading says it has been funded by USDA, and in fact funding has been significantly increased during 2025.
USAID was in charge of the program which monitored screwworm spread in central and south america. The way you combat screwworm is by releasing sterile male flies in screwworm outbreak areas.
Do you have a source? Because this appears to be false. I can't find anything indicating it was funded by USAID. Everything I'm reading says it has been funded by USDA, and in fact funding has been significantly increased during 2025.
USDA manages the production of the sterile flies. USAID was a major funding source for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization which did the monitoring.
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Some folks are posting about the regular flights over Panama, and I’ve seen talk about ending screwworm with a “gene drive”, but I also feel that it doesn’t feel necessary. But a third option I don’t see talked about a lot: finish the job. We could drop sterile flies all over the USA and Mexico all the way into panama with 1950s tech. We have drones now, surely some inexpensive paper planes shoved out of the back of…