We are going to dump billions of flies from planes to fight the “cannibal” Magette
The USDA has declared the war to be in meat, livestock, livestock, household pets and, in rare cases, meat magazines. strategy? Billions of sterile flies dumped from planes in Mexico and Texas.
Using this proven biological control technology, USDA aims to eliminate larvae flying from tropical parasite New World Screwworm (NWS). The scientific name for this invasive pest is Gay humanwhich actually means “cannibalism”. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, flies target warm-water animals, laying eggs near open wounds and mucosa. When eggs hatch, Magette drills into the depths of the living tissue of the host, consumes as they grow and causes painful, potentially fatal wounds. If NWS flights spread throughout the United States, it could weaken the livestock industry, kill wildlife, and pose a significant risk to pets and human health.
“A thousand pounds of cattle could die within two weeks,” Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told the Associated Press.
To eliminate the pest, USDA scientists are breeding adult male NWS flies and sterilizing them with radiation before releasing them from the plane. When these flies mated with females, the eggs they produce do not hatch, reducing the number of magma and causing the population to die over time. This method is more environmentally friendly than pesticides, and while it may sound counterintuitive, it has worked in the past.
“The United States has beaten the NWS before, and we will do it again,” said Brooke Rollins, secretary of the US Department of Agriculture. According to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 94 billion sterile flights were released to eliminate pests from 1962 to 1974. By 2000, due to a sterile flight facility there, in 2000, pests were occupied in Panama, despite occasional small outbreaks in the United States, just like the one hitting the Florida key in 2017.
“It’s a very good technology,” Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, told the Associated Press while studying parasites in livestock. “It’s a great thing when it comes to translation science to solve some kind of big problem.”
According to the USDA, the NWS’s fly population has expanded northward in the past few years. Mexico’s latest discovery, the latest discovery from Oaxaca and Veracruz (700 miles (1,127 kilometers) from the southern border) has sent U.S. officials suspending imports of cattle, horses and bison on May 11.
On June 18, Rollins announced the development of the $8.5 million sterile NWS flight-style dispersion facility and developed an aggressive plan to prevent the pest from re-entering the U.S. flight plant at Moore Air Force Base, South Texas, which should be completed by the end of this year. It could increase domestic sterile flight production by up to 300 million flies per week and complement current facilities already operating in Panama and Mexico. The USDA also invested $21 million to renovate its existing flight plant in Metapah, Mexico, which will provide between 6 billion and 100 million sterile NWS flies a week to stop the spread. The USDA said that in addition to Panama’s production, this will release at least 160 million flies in Mexico and Panama.
The first few weeks of the NWS fly attack strategy have shown results. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has spread more than 100 million sterile NWS flies a week since officials closed southern ports to livestock in May. Based on these findings, the USDA has decided to gradually reopen southern border ports starting July 7 in exchange for livestock trade.
These are good signs for officials to regain control of the pest. However, as the planet continues to warm, more invasive insects and parasites will spread northward from the tropics, threatening agriculture, biodiversity and public health in the United States. Therefore, sterile fly breeding and distribution planning may become increasingly necessary. Burgess argues that even if officials eliminate the NW threat, officials should keep the flight plants open. “We think we have total control over this – we declared a victory and a victory – and it’s always possible to lift our ugly head again,” he said.
