NM delegation reacts to screwworm outbreak

A slide of a fly laying eggs in an animal wound. (Courtesy Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library).

Members of New Mexico’s federal delegation on Thursday responded to growing concerns about the spread of the New World Screwworm, a parasitic fly that can damage livestock and other animals.

United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on May 11 announced the immediate suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports through United States ports of entry along the southern border “due to the continued and rapid northward spread” of NWS in Mexico. According to the USDA, NWS “has been recently detected in remote farms with minimal cattle movement as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border.”

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, announced on Thursday bipartisan legislation, also sponsored by fellow New Mexico Democrat U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, aimed at curbing the outbreak. The Strengthening Tactics to Obstruct the Population of Screwworms (STOP Screwworms) Act, introduced by Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, would pay for and direct the USDA to start construction on a new sterile fly production facility.

“Given the current screwworm outbreak, Congress must take immediate action to help protect New Mexico’s cattle and livestock from this growing threat,” Luján said in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation will fund a new sterile fly facility to help stop the spread of the destructive New World screwworm and protect New Mexico’s 1.4 million cattle and calves. This is a critical investment that supports over 10,000 cattle farms and ranches in New Mexico, saves the U.S. livestock industry nearly $1 billion each year, and helps prevent an outbreak in the U.S.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) who represents the state’s 2nd congressional district that includes the border communities, wrote to USDA Secretary Rollins in March expressing concerns about the mounting NWS threat, and is a co-sponsor of the new legislation in his chamber.

“I’ve been raising the alarm about the New World Screwworm threat because I know what it means for our ranchers, ports, and rural economies,” Vasquez said in a statement this week. “That’s why I introduced this bipartisan bill to fight this outbreak and protect our livestock industry. I was one of the first lawmakers to urge the USDA to take this seriously. Livestock auctions in New Mexico are already feeling the squeeze, and ranchers who depend on cross-border cattle trade are being left in limbo. USDA must be transparent about the timeline for reopening ports of entry, and they need to address the staffing and operational issues that are slowing things down. Our border economies can’t wait.”