The U.S. has led screwworm fly eradication & control throughout the Americas since shortly after WW2, and this seems like exactly the sort of wonkish, high-trust program that Trump2.0 has fired/retired the personnel who know what they’re doing, and the crisis will just fester
yet another job for bleach and Ivermectin (it genuinely sucks that i knew how to spell that off the cuff)
I bet RFK jr is just giddy
Awful.
I thought they put the screwworm in charge of HHS?
A government run by parasites favors parasites.
TBH the breakout from Panama happened under Biden in 2023, and scientists don't have a strong consensus about why. Maybe funding was left to stagnate? More cattle smuggling? COVID? Sort of hard to blame this on any specific prez.
It appeared in Florida under Obama & Trump1.0 too, though more isolated and they eradicated the local outbreak It sounds like they’re expecting Texas ranches & cattle to get hit hard, and responding would require knowledge, competence, organization, and a trusting & supportive political class
Just so much fun ("fun") to see quotes from R MoC and donors about how important it is to tackle this issue and etc with no apparent self awareness of any sort
It’s constant. The current screwworm outbreak and risks to public health and livestock are a direct result of Elon Musk and Trump’s slashing essential USDA funding and staffing for eradication programs—created gaps in biosecurity and prevention, now forcing the US to play catch up as cases surge.
God dammit rfk... stop eating every piece of road kill you see!
“USDA program that ran flawlessly from 1970 to 2020” is prime “one guy remains after DOGE knows what to do and he doesn’t use email and Greg Abbott won’t speak to him” territory
The screwworm outbreak and risks to public health and livestock are a direct result of Musk and Trump’s slashing essential USDA funding and staffing for screwworm eradication. Their actions created gaps in biosecurity and prevention, now forcing us to play catch up as cases inevitably surge!
USDA had been keeping the continent’s screwworms largely contained in Panama—easier and cheaper to contain them at that small land border than the massive southern US border—even if it meant paying to eradicate them throughout Central America first. 2020 article: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
Trump’s climate change skepticism led to Musk’s DOGE slashing funding for biosecurity and animal disease prevention—including screwworm control. Now US livestock and public health face crisis because Trump and Musk sidelined proven evidence-based safeguards and expert staff operating the programs!