Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Wednesday accused the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture of slow-walking their response to the year-long threat of the New World Screwworm. The first U.S. NWS cattle infestation in over 50 years was reported in Zavala County earlier in the day.
In a release, Miller urged President Donald Trump to “take direct control” of the response and order USDA to immediately deploy the Screwworm Adult Suppression System.
“I personally provided research and the SWASS bait formula to Secretary Rollins and her team on three separate occasions while the screwworm continued its northward trek to Texas,” Miller said in the statment. “Instead of using every available tool, USDA moved too slowly and relied solely on a partial solution that takes years to fully implement.”
Miller said SWASS was developed by the agency the last time the screwworm appeared in the United States and successfully deployed.
“USDA already owns the playbook; the only question is whether USDA will use it before this situation gets worse,” Miller said.
Back after 50 years
Aside from a single Florida Keys deer in 2017, the last time the New World Screwworm was seen in the United States was in the 1960s. The blowfly lays its eggs near open wounds on live animals, its descriptive name coming from how larva burrows into the host in a screw-like manner where secondary infections can kill the host.
NWS had been confined to South America with the Darien Gap serving as a biological border. That changed in 2022 when it was detected in Panama and the pest has been marching north ever since.
On a call with Texas reporters Wednesday night, Rollins did not address Miller’s statement. She thanked several Lone Star agencies including the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas A&M AgriLife, the Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Cattle Raisers, and Texas Parks & Wildlife.
A conspicuous absence
Missing was any mention of coordination with the Texas Dept. of Agriculture. On its website, TDA describes part of its mission as facilitating “trade and market development of agricultural commodities ranging from livestock to crops” to ensure Texas remains a national leader in the production of cattle and other livestock, along with other commodities.
NWS is eradicated by producing millions of sterile screwworm males. As the females only mate once, the populations effectively collapse.
Rollins pledged the full weight of USDA in halting any further spread, citing 8 million sterile males being released aerially and on the ground each week. But no mention of Miller, his SWASS bait formula, or the department he will lead for the rest of the year came out in the conference call. USDA did not respond to questions regarding the Texas Dept. of Agriculture’s role or Miller’s comments before press time.
“We have number one formed a unified incident command team with the Texas Animal Health Commission, and deployed our APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) response team and personnel to the area,” Rollins said. “We have established a 20-kilometer infested zone around the detection and Implemented quarantines, movement controls, and surveillance in this area.”
Rollins emphasized that the NWS infestation is an animal safety problem, not a food safety problem.
“Screwworms do not infest meat, they do not infest fruits, they do not infest vegetables or other food sources,” Rollins said. “This is not a food safety issue, this is a food production issue.”
Heading to the door
Miller’s third term as Ag Commissioner will be his final one. A last-minute endorsement from President Trump failed to move voters in the March 3 Republican Primary, lifting instead Nate Sheets who will go before voters in November to face Democrat Clayton Tucker.
Sheets, whose was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, released his own statement on NWS Wednesday night. Describing the outbreak as “like something from a horror movie,” Sheets took the opportunity to lump Miller and his opponent together.
“While Sid Miller tours the state with my communist opponent Clayton Tucker, sullying his Republican legacy, Texas agriculture is facing a very real threat that demands immediate attention from actual leaders,” he said.
Tucker’s statement released Wednesday night echoed similar points made by Sheets.
“This is a serious threat to Texas agriculture, livestock, wildlife, and even household pets. We’ve beaten the New World Screwworm before, and we’ll beat them again,” he said. “But let’s be honest: this work should have started years ago.”
Both candidates committed to having an infrastructure put in place so that Texans won’t have to face an emergency like this again in the future.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Sid Miller says USDA ignored his screwworm solution
Reporting by Ronald W. Erdrich, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ronald W. Erdrich, Abilene Reporter-News | USA TODAY Network
