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US to dump billions of flies over Mexico in $30m fight against flesh-eating maggots (www.lbc.co.uk)
submitted 1 month ago by Stamau123@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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The move comes as the New World Screwworm fly larvae continues to cause chaos as it infiltrates the US beef industry, affecting wider wildlife, pets and, in rare cases, humans.

According to scientists, the new batches of male sterilised maggots will be dumped over the South American nation and the US state of Texas in a bid to eradicate the vicious variety of flesh-eating larvae.

The US Department of Agriculture is said the male flies, which measure slightly larger than the average housefly, will be sterilised with radiation before being released.

The strategy, set out by scientists, will force the female screwworms to breed with the newly sterilised males.

The flesh-eating variety of the screwworm maggots were eradicated from the US in 1966, but the creatures appear to me making a comeback.

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[-] Stamau123@lemmy.world 154 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The article doesn't mention why this is suddenly an issue. They used to have a narrow choke point around Panama where they did this routinely to keep these things from ever getting into the US, but that was cut as part of the "government efficiency" fiasco, so now it's a widespread, growing, problem. Really the perfect example of why wildly cutting government spending without thought is not an 'efficient' approach to reducing spending.

There is also a picture of a screw-worm infected dog in the article, if you want to see what your republican sponsored future will be

[-] CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world 67 points 1 month ago

It's worth noting that the current outbreak that's occurring north of Panama started prior to DOGE doing its bullshit. Apparently it began in 2022.

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

Worth noting that people still have no idea how much damage Trump and Republicans did the first go around.

[-] protist@mander.xyz 13 points 1 month ago

I'm not saying they didn't do damage, but did they cut funding for this? There doesn't seem to be any evidence of that. There was an outbreak in Florida in 2016 before the 2022 outbreak

No concrete reason for the northward spread has been given, and Dr. Chancey said it is likely “multifactorial.” She noted that surveillance of NWS is limited in hard-to-reach areas across Central America, and livestock often are transported through unmonitored or insufficient checkpoints.

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I'm not talking about who did what.

I'm talking about people who don't know what damage was done and the extent.

If they knew, and actually cared, things would not be as bad and getting worse.

[-] roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago

That dog pic is actually a little tame. I've seen some nightmare inducing pics of screwworm infections.

[-] Wazowski@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

"MAGAts for maggots"

[-] protist@mander.xyz 7 points 1 month ago

but that was cut as part of the "government efficiency" fiasco

I hate Elon, Trump, DOGE, and MAGA as much as the next comrade, but I have seen no evidence this is the case. Where did you get this from?

[-] Stamau123@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Your comment made me think again at my sources. Re-researching starting with the link from @CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world and eventually through this Atlantic article it seems as though pandemic supply chain issues finally caught up to the fly factory.

But as @evenglow@lemmy.world said, I'd still chalk that up as first term damage, and Trump and DOGE should get screwworms.

[-] protist@mander.xyz 6 points 1 month ago

But right after it mentions supply chain issues, it talks about unauthorized migration through the Darien Gap and the illegal cattle trade in Central America. Just saying, criticize where it's due, and Trump's due criticism for almost everything he's done, but this problem is complex and exists independently of him and independently of the United States

[-] fireweed@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I read something different re: the cause.

It’s difficult to say how they made it past the Darien Gap, but there are several possibilities, Earl said. Monitoring and surveillance for screwworm was relaxed due to the COVID-19 pandemic several years ago, and an increase in illegal cattle trafficking in the region might also be helping to spread animals infected with maggots. The increase in human migration northward may also be playing a role, Earl said.

Source

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 145 points 1 month ago

Mexico is not "South American." Most of it isn't even "Central American." The person who wrote this needs some geography lessons.

[-] protist@mander.xyz 67 points 1 month ago

This article also makes this sound like a brand new endeavor, as if this hasn't been an ongoing project for 70 years now

[-] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

Well, where they're dropping them is recent, as the screwworm has been steadily moving north again.

[-] wulrus@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

When you are not up to date on the topic, it sounds like a far-fetched dystopian alternate timeline.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

I sent them a message to see if they'd update it. Just out of curiosity.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Update that no one will likely see but I said I messaged them so I figured I'd say the result. They updated the article to replace all instances of South America with North America.

(Message was sent via the authors personal website, as I dont use X) https://www.danielledewolfe.com/

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

Good for them.

[-] k0e3@lemmy.ca 60 points 1 month ago

I'm surprised they're still doing it. I would have assumed the administration threw a fit about having Mexico pay for it instead.

[-] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

They are going to put a tariff on flesh eating flies imported from Mexico instead

[-] eRac@lemmings.world 53 points 1 month ago

Mexico

South American nation

Wat

[-] FelixCress@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Don't you know, only USA is true north America. Canada is their "younger brother" 🤣

[-] generallynonsensical@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

America is Canada's gut.

[-] Wazowski@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

yeah. full of shit.

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

And Florida is the nipple?

[-] AreaKode@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Limp dick, actually.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

We should wall off Florida and call it America’s cock ring. After getting all the fascist to move there.

[-] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

a hanging turd

[-] Witchfire@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Believe it or not Canada is also South American. It's next to the country of Mattel. /s

[-] El_guapazo@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago

In a plot twist, the trump administration forgets to sterilize the flies before releasing them. And now they've accelerated the incursion into the US

[-] roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 month ago

You joke, but there was some dude in Florida (I think) who was contracted to do this with fruit flies and he started dropping healthy ones to make sure the program never ended.

Source; I can't be bothered to look it up, trust me bro.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

he can also extend his time in between appointments to allow the fruit flies to recover to achieve the same results. fruit flies breed pretty fast. thats why they have to do it to mosquitos(mosquitos might be harder since theres multiple species that can spread different diseases) and screworms so frequently, they lay a ton of eggs at once.

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 34 points 1 month ago

I am expecting the Trump Regime to cancel this program, and for EVERYONE to experience the consequences.

Kurzesaget: How Nuclear Flies Protect You from Flesh Eating Parasites

[-] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Hey that's how I know about screw worms too

[-] brown567@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

The worm in Kennedy's brain will axe it for sure

[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Anyone wanna take bets on Trump cancelling the program to "save the budget"?

[-] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 24 points 1 month ago

Depends on how he hears about it. If somebody brings it up as being beneficial to everybody, he'll want to axe it, but if he just hears that we're dumping tons of gross bugs on Mexico, he'll probably be on board.

[-] DrakeAlbrecht@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 month ago

Kurzgesagt did a show on this last month.

[-] romanticremedy 3 points 1 month ago

I was gonna share that here if no one haven't

[-] caboose2006@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Don't look up screw worms.

[-] HurlingDurling@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Relevant Kurzgesagt video

[-] peaceful_world_view@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Get rid of the MAGAts in America first.

[-] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Well if we don't deal with screw worms... they'll deal with us lol

[-] Iamsqueegee@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

Life, uh, finds a way.

[-] blujan@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Never seen mexico referred as south america before

this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
347 points (100.0% liked)

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