A new bill calls for constructing a sterile male fly facility in the U.S.
Lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to help protect U.S. agriculture from a pest currently causing import pauses.
Republican Senators John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Democratic Senator Ben Ray Luján, and Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales recently tabled the STOP Screwworms Act.
If passed, the USDA would receive $300 million in funding to construct a New World screwworm (NWS) sterile fly facility in the country.
This facility would produce sterile male flies released into the wild to compete with other males and help reduce populations.
Currently, the only facility of this kind in North America is in Pacora, Panama. It can produce over 100 million pupae per week.
The NWS can be devastating to livestock.
The larvae burrow into the flesh of a living animal and cause additional damage as they continue to feed.
“As a result, NWS can cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal,” the USDA says.
Multiple ag organizations support the STOP Screwworms Act.
The American Farm Bureau and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association are among the bill’s supporters.
“When I was growing up, I heard the stories of how damaging the New World screwworm was to our cattle before it was eradicated in the 1960s. I never want to see that kind of devastation return to our country,” National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Buck Wehrbein said. “That is why the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is supporting the STOP Screwworms Act so we can construct a sterile fly facility in the United States that will help us prevent this pest from ever returning to our country.”
The U.S. has conducted a sterile NWS male fly campaign before.
The work on it began during the Second World War, when USDA entomologists were tasked with finding a way to control insects that threatened soldiers.
Though rare, NWS larvae can feed on humans.
Scientists at the time used hospital x-ray equipment and discovered the gamma rays could sterilize large populations of male flies.
By the 1960s and ‘90s, respectively, NWS populations were eradicated in the U.S. and Mexico using sterilization techniques.
This led to the closure of sterilization facilities in Texas and Mexico.
But with the insect’s push north, now is the time to act.
“Combatting the destructive New World screwworm is vital to protecting our cattle, Texas producers, and the American livestock industry as a whole,” Senator Cornyn said in a statement. “I am proud to lead this legislation to create a new facility dedicated to pushing these pests away from our border and will continue to work with Secretary Rollins and agriculture leaders across the state to ensure our farmers, ranchers, and producers have the resources they need.”
This new outbreak of NWS caused the U.S. to close its borders to Mexican livestock.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins made the decision on May 11 to protect food security and U.S. agriculture.
“The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance,” she said in a statement. “Once we see increased surveillance and eradication efforts, and the positive results of those actions, we remain committed to opening the border for livestock trade. This is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.”