In an unstable economy, food prices and related issues are beginning to burden the food industry, with additional worries that will have consequences for consumers, as well as those that will impact food producers. One example is the return of a previously eradicated parasite, now known as the New World Screwworm, which had been successfully eradicated back in the 1960s. It has recently been detected in two South Texas Counties and in New Mexico, as well. The flesh-eating parasite’s larvae burrow into the living tissue of cattle, pets, wildlife, and in humans.
Concerns Over Federal Funding and Monitoring
Watchdog groups allege that this never would have happened “if Elon Musk’s DOGE hadn’t cut funding for the United States Department of Agriculture, fired the people responsible for monitoring this threat, and destroyed the early warning system that could have stopped it.”
Reportedly, this administration and DOGE gutted the system that worked for six decades, cutting screwworm monitoring efforts, slashing animal disease programs, and families are being told that beef prices could climb higher. Congress has one job now – restore the funding and to ensure this outbreak is stopped before ranchers, consumers and rural communities pay the price.
Current Cases and Response Planning
In recent reports, there have been seven cases, with one in New Mexico and six in Texas. Reportedly, efforts are being conducted to activate a 2025 agreement, established in HR 3806, between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, to include their five-point plan:
- Emergency Management Response Planning
- Sterile Insect Production – to reach 500 million per week
- Surveillance – trapping and monitoring along the U.S. & Mexico border
- Innovations In Funding – in support of Sterile Fly production
Texas Activates Emergency Measures
Governor Abbot has ordered massive sterile fly releases, as the parasite has hit South Texas. Entomologists report that the female fly only has one reproductive cycle and that releasing sterile male flies would halt reproduction. A disaster declaration has also reportedly been issued for the affected counties. State officials have confirmed the initial cases, since the 1960s, in a calf and another in New Mexico, being found in a dog.
The governor has ordered the Texas Division of Emergency Management to “activate the Texas State Emergency Operation Center to Escalated Response to support the state’s New World Screwworm response.” Multiple state agencies are also being activated to allow the full use of all state resources “for the protection of our ranchers, livestock producers, deer breeders, and the Texas economy from this pest” is a top priority.
Coordinated Efforts to Stop the Spread
From all appearances, both the federal and state responses are focused on the interruption of the reproduction cycle, for an initial response to this threat, to the state’s economy, to food costs, threats to public health and safety. Federal activity also includes working with the Mexican government and the governments of Central American countries, to encourage the establishments of partnerships, to combat the spread of the New World Screwworm.
Maintaining Public Confidence
When an unexpected threat to economic stability arises, it becomes imperative that the citizenry can be confident in the government’s ability to identify the threat and to work to determine how to eradicate it.
Our confidence must remain constant in the officials trusted with that responsibility.
Read Next: Cycles of Resilience Documentary Brings Austin’s Black History To The Big Screen
