The Trump administration's negligence and cuts to screwworm monitoring programs have led to a dangerous outbreak affecting the US cattle industry. Despite attempts to blame Biden, it's clear that Trump's policies are to blame. How will this crisis impact the already struggling cattle producers? #SaveOurCattle #BlameTrumpNotBiden
The gap has been crossed many times in the 50+ years that the barrier has been in place. These crossings aren’t failures, but inevitable when trying to wage war on a flying insect with an average lifespan of 21 days. Keeping the screwworm at bay requires constant effort and monitoring. Here’s an excerpt from the 2020 article"America’s Never-ending Battle Against Flesh-eating Worms"
“To get the screwworms out, the USDA to this day maintains an international screwworm barrier along the Panama-Colombia border. The barrier is an invisible one, and it is kept in place by constant human effort. Every week, planes drop 14.7 million sterilized screwworms over the rainforest that divides the two countries. A screwworm-rearing plant operates 24/7 in Panama. Inspectors cover thousands of square miles by motorcycle, boat, and horseback, searching for stray screwworm infections north of the border. The slightest oversight could undo all the work that came before.”
“The slightest oversight could undo all the work that came before”, huh? Shame DOGE didn’t give a fuck when they slashed screwworm monitoring programs.
The failure we’re seeing isn’t a failure to keep the screwworms out of the US (which any administration would inevitably fail to maintain perfectly), but a failure in monitoring and proactive preventative efforts to maintain the barrier. Fuck knows how long it’s been spreading before it was noticed, given that it’s already affecting multiple states.
The blame for what happens now lies solely with Trump and his cronies.
You are getting downvoted, but containment was breached in 2022. Personally, I’m unsure how much orangeboi’s first stint harmed matters - did they kneecap funding for that? I’d believe it, to be clear, but I do think it’s important to bring receipts in matters like this.
And that said, while I’m sure the US had some sort of role in supporting the quarantine zone at the Darien Gap, I’m not familiar enough with the nuance of their operations to say whether or not it was the US, Panama, or someone else dropping the ball, or simply a combination of bad luck and natural adaptation. We are talking about a species of parasitic insect here - the lifecycle is so quick that 22 years very well may have been enough time for evolution to throw a wrench into containment efforts.
While it is true that orangeboi surely did not help, and him gutting programs to track things like this at the start of his second term (note: in 2024, which is after the original containment breach in Panama in 2022) was absolutely fucking stupid, the breach did not actually occur on his watch. The outbreak made it from Panama to the Mexican state of Chiapas between 2022 and 2024, all under Biden’s purview.
By no means am I defending orangeboi here. I’m simply saying that to my eye, this is looking a lot like one of the many areas in which Biden dropped the ball, and orangeboi exacerbated the matter, and then tried to fully blame it on Biden. But both are culpable: Biden and his admin for not treating a horrifying parasitic outbreak with the “oh fuck all hands on deck” attitude that it deserves, and orangeboi and his regime for being simplistic imbecilic fucks with far more concern about getting rich and casting blame than doing literally anything else to help anyone else.
Thanks for the article. It was an interesting read
I disagree with your assertion that Biden had much tondo with it though. Seems he maintained the status quo, and never made any direct decisions that affected screwworms
Trump has some blame because he authorized wonton cuts that ended up affecting screwworm monitoring, even if it was already out of containment
His admin also re-authorized cattle imports for 2 days even though it was obviously spreading in Mexico
Article talked about how it may have been a screwworm adaptation that allowed it to breach containment. I think that’s a compelling argument. If true, it would mean stopping at the Darien Gap was always a time bomb waiting to happen
We should have worked to completely eradicate the screwworm, rather than containing
There have been many times where the gap has been breached in the 50+ years it’s been in place — it’s inevitable when dealing with a flying insect with such a short lifespan.
You’re right to highlight that multiple decades is a heckton of time when it comes to the evolutionary lifecycle of this fly, but keeping track of these kinds of changes is part of the intensive preventative work done by programs under USDA.
DOGE explicitly slashed the USDA, including the screwworm program. Some funding was restored at a later date, but I believe a lot of that was put towards the construction of a new plant that would breed sterile flies (which needed to be released weekly) — a plant that is a long way from being completed. Previously, the bulk of the flies being released were produced at a plant in Panama, which no doubt spurred the decision to build a new one in the US.
However, even if the new plant had already been online before Trump ordered USDA to pull back from intergovernmental cooperation with other countries, this outbreak might not have been averted. Progress in keeping the screwworm at bay has only been possible through constant cooperation between countries. Especially because monitoring fly populations and cases of screwworm (on both sides of the barrier line) is probably the most significant facet of the program. Inspectors have to patrol thousands of square miles of land by motorcycle, boat and horseback, and the amount of manpower that takes is insane. The US was previously contributing a heckton of that manpower, but I can’t imagine that monitoring has been anywhere close to how it used to be when the USDA has been bled dry of personnel
TL;DR: I was going to say that it was definitely the US who dropped the ball, but it would be more accurate to say that they threw it, with force, at the people who were most essential for keeping the screwworm at bay
Why would they have a plant in the US?/ THE reason they chose where they did is because it is small. I don’t think they could control the entire US boarder orbit would be more expensive.
I can’t say for certain why they’d want a plant in the US, but I do know that they are already midway through building one in Texas, which is scheduled to be completed in November 2027. If I had to guess, I would say that it’s for much the same reason why Trump pushed through an executive order ordering USDA to pull back from programs that involved cooperating with other countries.
I don’t know this for certain though — it’s possible that the building of this plant was something that was approved during the Biden era, and that it was just intended to increase the amount of sterile flies available (the Panama plant was already working 24/7), or to make the system more resilient. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was another facet of MAGA hostile foreign policy
Edit: apparently the plant began being built in April, so it seems it was indeed something that started recently.
Even if the facility had been already operative, it would’ve still been dumb as shit to pull back from cooperation with other countries, but the fact that this decision was made before there was a viable alternative boggles the mind. (To be clear, the pulling back from international cooperation didn’t mean that the US would no longer be relying on the Panama plant at all — I imagine they still were. However, because the dropping of flies was reliant on so many faces of cooperation, it appears that there has been less active work to maintain the barrier, possibly because it would involve relying on Panama)
My understanding is that the barrier weakened during covid, which would have caused multiple complications for containment efforts. Believe it or not, Trump can pretty fairly be blamed for covid getting as bad as it did, and thus can pretty fairly be blamed for this screwworm stuff.
I mean yeah, that is multiple fair points. All I’m saying is that it would behoove the strength of that argument to be able to establish a causal chain that makes that unavoidably clear.
So uh to be clear, I am 0% defending orangeboi. What I AM saying is that understanding what went wrong in the context of the Biden administration’s response to the situation is far more worthy of consideration. Scapegoating orangeboi for process failures that arose specifically from the Biden admin would be refusing to learn from a poor outcome, and a rejection of agency over the part of the dynamic that wasn’t outright malicious, and simply could have been done more effectively, or without error in the future.
I’m talking about a 5Ys, basically. And if you are ever in one of those, you’re not trying hard enough if you’re scapegoating. A malicious actor is one answer; you have four more good ones to come up with, and usually the best answers have to do with process - or, at least, strategic learnings.
rather odd people are getting downvoted for stating the actual science behind it. i think it was raging in south america for a long time, and it was never controlled in that continent.
I mean. It crossed the gap during Biden iirc
The gap has been crossed many times in the 50+ years that the barrier has been in place. These crossings aren’t failures, but inevitable when trying to wage war on a flying insect with an average lifespan of 21 days. Keeping the screwworm at bay requires constant effort and monitoring. Here’s an excerpt from the 2020 article"America’s Never-ending Battle Against Flesh-eating Worms"
“The slightest oversight could undo all the work that came before”, huh? Shame DOGE didn’t give a fuck when they slashed screwworm monitoring programs.
The failure we’re seeing isn’t a failure to keep the screwworms out of the US (which any administration would inevitably fail to maintain perfectly), but a failure in monitoring and proactive preventative efforts to maintain the barrier. Fuck knows how long it’s been spreading before it was noticed, given that it’s already affecting multiple states.
The blame for what happens now lies solely with Trump and his cronies.
Removed by mod
An article not mentioning another relevant fact in 15k words means nothing about that other relevant fact.
Removed by mod
What did this guy say that was so bad he deserved a ban?
Feels like heavy handed modding. Discussions to correct misconceptions are healthy
I heard it crossed the gap traveling in RFKs brain. Not sure how that’s Bidens fault.
Removed by mod
That’s pretty much the same response I get from my maga family when I show them evidence that contradicts clearly their claims.
Was the “rfk brain crossing” evidence lol
Pretty much on par with any evidence brought forth by anyone claiming election fraud in 2020. Except this time it’s funny.
Is it funny
And what is being done about it now besides blaming it on someone else?
Nothing?
Uh-huh.
You are getting downvoted, but containment was breached in 2022. Personally, I’m unsure how much orangeboi’s first stint harmed matters - did they kneecap funding for that? I’d believe it, to be clear, but I do think it’s important to bring receipts in matters like this.
And that said, while I’m sure the US had some sort of role in supporting the quarantine zone at the Darien Gap, I’m not familiar enough with the nuance of their operations to say whether or not it was the US, Panama, or someone else dropping the ball, or simply a combination of bad luck and natural adaptation. We are talking about a species of parasitic insect here - the lifecycle is so quick that 22 years very well may have been enough time for evolution to throw a wrench into containment efforts.
Edit: yes, by all means, continue downvoting because I and other users are pointing out that (CW: images of active infestation in animals) there is a lot of context and detail to this situation and it’s not actually as simple as “orangeboi cut funding”.
While it is true that orangeboi surely did not help, and him gutting programs to track things like this at the start of his second term (note: in 2024, which is after the original containment breach in Panama in 2022) was absolutely fucking stupid, the breach did not actually occur on his watch. The outbreak made it from Panama to the Mexican state of Chiapas between 2022 and 2024, all under Biden’s purview.
By no means am I defending orangeboi here. I’m simply saying that to my eye, this is looking a lot like one of the many areas in which Biden dropped the ball, and orangeboi exacerbated the matter, and then tried to fully blame it on Biden. But both are culpable: Biden and his admin for not treating a horrifying parasitic outbreak with the “oh fuck all hands on deck” attitude that it deserves, and orangeboi and his regime for being simplistic imbecilic fucks with far more concern about getting rich and casting blame than doing literally anything else to help anyone else.
Thanks for the article. It was an interesting read
I disagree with your assertion that Biden had much tondo with it though. Seems he maintained the status quo, and never made any direct decisions that affected screwworms
Trump has some blame because he authorized wonton cuts that ended up affecting screwworm monitoring, even if it was already out of containment
His admin also re-authorized cattle imports for 2 days even though it was obviously spreading in Mexico
Article talked about how it may have been a screwworm adaptation that allowed it to breach containment. I think that’s a compelling argument. If true, it would mean stopping at the Darien Gap was always a time bomb waiting to happen
We should have worked to completely eradicate the screwworm, rather than containing
There have been many times where the gap has been breached in the 50+ years it’s been in place — it’s inevitable when dealing with a flying insect with such a short lifespan.
You’re right to highlight that multiple decades is a heckton of time when it comes to the evolutionary lifecycle of this fly, but keeping track of these kinds of changes is part of the intensive preventative work done by programs under USDA.
DOGE explicitly slashed the USDA, including the screwworm program. Some funding was restored at a later date, but I believe a lot of that was put towards the construction of a new plant that would breed sterile flies (which needed to be released weekly) — a plant that is a long way from being completed. Previously, the bulk of the flies being released were produced at a plant in Panama, which no doubt spurred the decision to build a new one in the US.
However, even if the new plant had already been online before Trump ordered USDA to pull back from intergovernmental cooperation with other countries, this outbreak might not have been averted. Progress in keeping the screwworm at bay has only been possible through constant cooperation between countries. Especially because monitoring fly populations and cases of screwworm (on both sides of the barrier line) is probably the most significant facet of the program. Inspectors have to patrol thousands of square miles of land by motorcycle, boat and horseback, and the amount of manpower that takes is insane. The US was previously contributing a heckton of that manpower, but I can’t imagine that monitoring has been anywhere close to how it used to be when the USDA has been bled dry of personnel
TL;DR: I was going to say that it was definitely the US who dropped the ball, but it would be more accurate to say that they threw it, with force, at the people who were most essential for keeping the screwworm at bay
Why would they have a plant in the US?/ THE reason they chose where they did is because it is small. I don’t think they could control the entire US boarder orbit would be more expensive.
I can’t say for certain why they’d want a plant in the US, but I do know that they are already midway through building one in Texas, which is scheduled to be completed in November 2027. If I had to guess, I would say that it’s for much the same reason why Trump pushed through an executive order ordering USDA to pull back from programs that involved cooperating with other countries.
I don’t know this for certain though — it’s possible that the building of this plant was something that was approved during the Biden era, and that it was just intended to increase the amount of sterile flies available (the Panama plant was already working 24/7), or to make the system more resilient. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was another facet of MAGA hostile foreign policy
Edit: apparently the plant began being built in April, so it seems it was indeed something that started recently.
Even if the facility had been already operative, it would’ve still been dumb as shit to pull back from cooperation with other countries, but the fact that this decision was made before there was a viable alternative boggles the mind. (To be clear, the pulling back from international cooperation didn’t mean that the US would no longer be relying on the Panama plant at all — I imagine they still were. However, because the dropping of flies was reliant on so many faces of cooperation, it appears that there has been less active work to maintain the barrier, possibly because it would involve relying on Panama)
My understanding is that the barrier weakened during covid, which would have caused multiple complications for containment efforts. Believe it or not, Trump can pretty fairly be blamed for covid getting as bad as it did, and thus can pretty fairly be blamed for this screwworm stuff.
I mean yeah, that is multiple fair points. All I’m saying is that it would behoove the strength of that argument to be able to establish a causal chain that makes that unavoidably clear.
So uh to be clear, I am 0% defending orangeboi. What I AM saying is that understanding what went wrong in the context of the Biden administration’s response to the situation is far more worthy of consideration. Scapegoating orangeboi for process failures that arose specifically from the Biden admin would be refusing to learn from a poor outcome, and a rejection of agency over the part of the dynamic that wasn’t outright malicious, and simply could have been done more effectively, or without error in the future.
I’m talking about a 5Ys, basically. And if you are ever in one of those, you’re not trying hard enough if you’re scapegoating. A malicious actor is one answer; you have four more good ones to come up with, and usually the best answers have to do with process - or, at least, strategic learnings.
like cutting funding?
My understanding is that there’s one factory producing the sterile flies. And it could have been expanded a long time ago.
I’m not saying Trump isn’t to blame but like everything else Biden didn’t do shit either.
rather odd people are getting downvoted for stating the actual science behind it. i think it was raging in south america for a long time, and it was never controlled in that continent.
Political instability and size are reasons for not eradicating it in south america.