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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

#91

Post by mindslight »

smallmancontrov wrote: post #31
cogman10 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DOGE. It was ran by USAID.

[flagged]

Musk certainly shares responsibility, but focusing responsibility on him lets others escape blame - eg Trump, Congress, the corpo and individual edgelord enablers sanguine about chaos, etc.

And frankly, it's sad enough for Musk already - richest guy in the world, he could have actually done something politically on his own, and yet he still ends up being used as a useful idiot scapegoat by a con artist. "But Trump promised he cared about the debt!!1!1!"

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

#92

Post by mc32 »

tptacek wrote: post #78
mc32 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key to managing this pest [edit: after it breaches the isthmus program] is through active monitoring, treating infested wounds as well as conducting castration and dehorning in less active months. It’s not like cattle herds didn’t exist prior to the 1950s.

That's in fact not how screwworms are managed; the "border" of screwworm prevalence was managed by spreading sterilized male screwworms.

That’s how we manage them now. I mean before we had that program, we dealt with the pest/infestation that way and we can in the future too if need be to combat what’s getting through. Obviously neutralizing them down in the isthmus is preferred but we’re seeing them come up from Mexico now. So if you have a minor infestation that’s how you treat it to address whatever gets missed by the sterilization program.

It doesn’t render the cattle or meat from the cattle useless. Obviously if affected cattle are untreated they will succumb to the pest.

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

#93

Post by tptacek »

smallmancontrov wrote: post #89
tptacek wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

You get that there was a president between 2020 and now, right? Nobody is sticking up for Trump; they're just saying, this particular bad thing isn't a DOGE outcome.

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

#94

Post by Bender »

Whether your meat comes form South America or the US or the EU, always wear gloves when handling raw meats and don't touch your face. There are thousands of types of dangerous larvae that can infect via the eyes rubbing the eyes or the nose picking ones nose when handling raw meats and vegetables. Cutting meat slices thinner and cooking them well kills larvae. Marinating meats with something that contains acetic acid also helps. Stomach acid takes care of the rest.

Beware of the fear porn spreading around this issue. I have already seen articles posted showing what happens when rubbing ones eyes or picking ones nose after handling raw food and of course it is horrific but screw worms are just one of many real risks. Food handlers in first world countries are taught not to touch their faces and to wear gloves among many other safety practices with raw meats and vegetables. Everyone both vegetarian and carnivore unknowingly eat many types of larvae, bacteria, mold, fungus and insects all the time.

I know I will get beat up for going against the agenda but I am that guy.

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

#95

Post by tptacek »

cogman10 wrote: post #63
literalAardvark wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't a critical time, it was late. If there had been any political will for this things would have been set in motion since 2023, likely even before that when the reports from the scientists working on control started pouring in. Blaming a few weeks of funding lapse one year into an outbreak in a control project that's been running for decades is absurd. From a link in this thread: However, since 2023, cases hav…

Fair point. The cost to fight this back will definitely exponentially increase.

Ok, but where did you get that Nov '24 date from? You just agreed with a comment that falsified that claim.

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

#96

Post by tptacek »

mc32 wrote: post #92
tptacek wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's in fact not how screwworms are managed; the "border" of screwworm prevalence was managed by spreading sterilized male screwworms.

That’s how we manage them now. I mean before we had that program, we dealt with the pest/infestation that way and we can in the future too if need be to combat what’s getting through. Obviously neutralizing them down in the isthmus is preferred but we’re seeing them come up from Mexico now. So if you have a minor infestation that’s how you treat it to address whatever gets missed by the sterilization program. It does…

The whole reason this is newsworthy is that the system we had prior to eradication was not good.

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

#97

Post by alephnerd »

SoftTalker wrote: post #88
andsoitis wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's due to issues around monopolization in the Dairy and Cattle industry in the US [1].

70% of all processors in the dairy and cattle industry are now owned by 3 companies. Processors don't own cattle - they just process raw material like dairy and meat into cheese and pasteurized milk and handle the entire supply chain. But because they control the supply chain, distribution, and even the feed [0] used they can set rates and vendors used by farmers.

I posted an article about this earlier on HN, but it seems HNers like to talk about antitrust for search engines and not dairy and beef production.

Antitrust for me, oligopolic market forces for thee.

[0] - https://www.landolakesinc.com/what-we-do/animal-nutrition/

[1] - https://www.thebullvine.com/news/will-your-dairy-farm-surviv...

___________

To u/andrew_lettuce below:

Canada has the exact same issue of processor consolidation and oligopoly in agriculture as the US [0][1][2]

Arguably, it's worse than the US because this process started in the 1990s in Canada [3] versus the 2010s in the US.

[0] - https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/terrence-galarneau/blog/4...

[1] - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7350140/

[2] - https://financialpost.com/commodities/agriculture/why-only-t...

[3] - https://www.eap.mcgill.ca/MagRack/RH/RH_E_97_05.htm

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

#99

Post by mc32 »

tptacek wrote: post #96
mc32 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s how we manage them now. I mean before we had that program, we dealt with the pest/infestation that way and we can in the future too if need be to combat what’s getting through. Obviously neutralizing them down in the isthmus is preferred but we’re seeing them come up from Mexico now. So if you have a minor infestation that’s how you treat it to address whatever gets missed by the sterilization program. It does…

The whole reason this is newsworthy is that the system we had prior to eradication was not good.

Yes, obviously; but it’s not the end of the cattle industry as some make it out to be.

To clarify: it was never eradicated. It’s been actively managed and kept at bay. Now it’s punching through some holes.

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

#100

Post by erredois »

Coming from a family that has cattle and dairy cows in south eastern Brazil, where screwworm is endemic, I was surprised when I listened to a podcast about screwworm, and some of the descriptions about how huge the problem was in the US. After some research it appears it affects more climates that are always hot and humid, and big operations where the animals are not being checked frequently. Also the handling at the 60s was probably much worse than modern techniques for avoiding animals being hurt and treating when they are infected.
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