Texas agriculture commissioner demands USDA deploy screwworm kill system

Key Points:

• Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is urging federal officials to deploy the Screwworm Adult Suppression System (SWAS), a bait-and-kill method developed in the 1970s, to eradicate the New World screwworm outbreak within 90 days.
• Miller criticizes the USDA's current reliance on sterile fly releases, arguing that the program is ineffective because it releases both male and female flies that often mate with each other, and irradiation weakens their ability to find mates.
• Since early 2025, the screwworm has spread over 1,100 miles into Texas and Arizona, with 12 confirmed animal cases in Texas, threatening the state's $32 billion livestock industry and potentially persisting for a decade without a change in strategy.
• USDA Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins visited Texas, emphasizing the safety of the food supply and highlighting ongoing efforts, including sterile fly releases, a unified Incident Command Team, 40 research projects, and AI-powered drones for detection and monitoring.
• Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched a public website to provide information on the outbreak, which Miller acknowledges as helpful but insufficient to stop the parasite's spread.