‘We are now at a critical inflection point in our shared campaign against this pest, and I am very concerned about our collaboration,’ the secretary said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on April 27 that it will restrict livestock imports from Mexico if it does not ramp up its fight against a threatening pest known as New World screwworm.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter on April 26 to Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristán, warning that the United States would “restrict the importation of animal commodities,” including live cattle, bison, and equine, if the issues are not resolved by April 30.
“We are now at a critical inflection point in our shared campaign against this pest, and I am very concerned about our collaboration,” Rollins wrote.
“The outbreak in southern Mexico continues to expand, and every day that passes without full deployment of sterile insect technique operations represents a lost opportunity to contain this pest and prevent its spread beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.”
Screwworms are known to infect livestock, wildlife, and, in some rare cases, humans. Screwworm fly maggots burrow into the skin of living animals and can sometimes inflict serious or fatal damage.
Signs and symptoms of infestations include irritated behavior, head shaking, and the smell of decay, according to the USDA.
In the letter, Rollins said that Mexico had allowed only one of the companies hired to carry out aerial spraying for killing the pest to fly six days a week while also imposing “burdensome customs duties” on parts required to keep its planes in the air.
Rollins’s letter was sent during heightened trade tensions between the United States and Mexico after the Trump administration levied 25 percent tariffs on its southern neighbor earlier this year over its failure to stem the trafficking of deadly opioids into the United States.
Goods subject to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempt from the tariffs.
The screwworm is endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and South American nations. In recent years, cases have also spread to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and now Mexico.
By Jacob Burg
