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Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

usda.gov

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Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#81

Post by lazide »

guerrilla wrote: post #38
neom wrote: post #9

I'd never head of screwworm before, turns out it's not a worm, this page is pretty decent: https://cr.usembassy.gov/sections-offices/aphis/screwworm-pr... "A screwworm infestation is caused by larvae of the fly Cochliomyia hominivorax. These larvae can infest wounds of any warm-blooded animal, including human beings. The screwworm fly is about twice the size of a regular house fly and can be distinguished by its gree…

> Screwworm larvae distinguish themselves from other species by feeding only on the living flesh, never dead tissue. What assholes. :(

Yeah the switch on these guys was definitely flipped to ‘evil’

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#84

Post by Pxtl »

kriops wrote: post #4
icy wrote: post #2

[flagged]

(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.

Food that eats food isn't ever gonna be good thermodynamics.

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#85

Post by rdl »

VladVladikoff wrote: post #34
cogman10 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DOGE. It was ran by USAID.

It was failing long before this. The border used to be down by Panama.

And the Panama border (Darien Gap, specifically) used to be a stronger natural barrier; humans have been crossing it for years, are starting to graze cows within the exclusion zone, etc.

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#86

Post by rdl »

throwup238 wrote: post #50
amoshebb wrote: post #37

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…

There is no finishing the job. Screwworm flies have tons of reservoirs in the jungles of Central America that aren’t practical to eliminate for logistical and ecological reasons. We can only control the population in agriculturally important areas by constantly releasing the sterile male flies every year. Whenever we stop the releases, the flies bounce back in a few years.

The durable reservoirs are in South America, not Central America. We actually eradicated it (at least essentially) all the way down to the Darien Gap.

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#87

Post by nnutter »

cogman10 wrote: post #48
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/22636-bird-flu-screwworm... 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.

I appreciate you citing the USAID funding but you seem to be trying to prove a point rather than get to the truth. Screwworm detection and prevention was not halted because of the USAID shutdown, USDA is actively working on it, one can see this by going to usda.gov and searching for "screwworm". I really appreciate ajmurmann's edit which acknowledges this.

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#88

Post by SoftTalker »

andsoitis wrote: post #64
Noumenon72 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone must have decided they weren't "essential". Big mistake.

Not essential. We can eat less beef. Better for health, the environment.

Already happening. Beef is rapidly becomming unaffordable. A steak at the supermarket is >$20. Can't imagine what they cost at a restaurant. I've switched to mostly turkey, chicken, and pork.

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#89

Post by smallmancontrov »

tptacek wrote: post #74
smallmancontrov wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The border didn't magically eradicate the flies on one side. Pushing the border down to the Darien Gap took work, but we did it before and can do it again. The real problem is the gleeful destruction of government capacity to do things like this.

Yes, that's true, but the point the parent commenter was making is that recent previous administrations also didn't take this problem seriously.

Who was president in 2020 again?

Re: Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread

#90

Post by Panoramix »

ethan_smith wrote: post #36
mistyvales wrote: post #16

Didn't they pull funding for mitigation programs regarding this? Or was that rescinded?

Yes, the USDA-APHIS Screwworm Barrier Maintenance Program had its funding reduced by 30% in the 2024 budget, which significantly impacted sterile fly production capacity at the Panama facility.

citation?

USDA approved an emergency funding of 165 million in 2024 for this issue

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/usda-ap...

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