Lawmakers introduce the ‘STOP Screwworm Act’ to protect U.S. livestock

To help combat the growing threat of the New World Screwworm, lawmakers in border states introduced the STOP Screwworm Act.

The bill aims to fund a new sterile fly production facility in the U.S. to tackle the growing threat of the flesh-eating maggot. With support from the NCBA and other cattle groups, the bill would use sterile insect techniques to stop the pest from spreading into the United States, the same technique used in the 1960s to eliminate NWS from the states.

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With the latest detection just across the border, animal health officials on both sides are intensifying efforts to contain the outbreak before it spreads further north.
“Continue to help us push the New World screwworm back to the Darién Gap and hopefully towards eradication.”
“I don’t think we’re going to see cattle coming across the border at all because of that increase in their cases in Mexico.”
“We as NCBA, we’re not shocked to see that there is a human case.”

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