McALLEN — As Mexican officials battle the spread of New World Screwworm, Texas officials are still working to finalize a response plan that would be enacted should the parasitic fly spread into the state.
Texas lawmakers questioned state and federal officials on plans to combat screwworm during a Texas House committee hearing Tuesday. They also heard from industry groups on their concerns over how screwworm could affect their livestock and wildlife.
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However, a response plan being formulated by the Texas Animal Health Commission with the U.S. Department of Agriculture is facing pushback from industry groups.
“The plan needs significant revision,” said Tim Niedecken, executive director of the Livestock Marketing Association of Texas. He added that he’s been in communication with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and told them they would be unable to comply with the plan as written.
Niedecken said the draft would require animals being moved out of an infested zone to have an ear tag, a vet inspection and receive treatment.
“I offer that as a very simple example, one of many that I could give you, of where this plan does not meet the realities of this industry today,” he told the panel of lawmakers.
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Texas Animal Health Commission, the lead agency in Texas on New World Screwworm response, will likely publish its response plan in approximately two months, according to Dr. Lewis “Bud” Dinges, the state’s top veterinarian and executive director of the Animal Health Commission.
“Our plan was to go through the New World Screwworm playbook that USDA’s developed and go through our plan with individual or smaller industry groups over the next couple of months,” he said.
The goal is to be in lock step with the USDA to ensure their actions don’t harm trade.
“We’ve got to protect our ability to continue to move livestock out of the northern portion of our state into other states, so we need to make sure that we meet any kind of regionalization plan or domestic zoning plans that will mesh with our trade partners in New World Screwworm response,” Dinges said.
Concerns over screwworm ramped up this fall after the parasite was detected in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. One was detected approximately 70 miles from the Texas border in September and a second was detected about 170 miles from the border in October.
USDA officials told state lawmakers on Tuesday that within 400 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, they’ve detected 14 cases, but all of them were related to cattle movement. None of the cases suggested the fly population itself was moving farther north.
Efforts to eradicate the screwworm are underway in Panama, where USDA officials are helping produce 100 million sterile flies per week meant to mate with the screwworm in hopes of eradicating their population.
In August, the USDA announced the construction of another sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base, an inactive U.S. Air Force facility in South Texas that will produce up to 300 million sterile flies per week. However, lawmakers were anxious over the time it would take to get the facility up and running. It currently has a construction timeline of 12-18 months, one that the USDA acknowledged was “aggressive.”
“Historically, we do not have a good track record with the Army Corps of Engineers on expediting projects and getting those deadlines hit and met,” said Dudley Hoskins, Under Secretary of Marketing & Regulatory Programs, for the USDA.
“This timeline that the secretary gave us on Moore Air Base is incredibly aggressive, our colleagues and leadership at the Army Corps know that, (but) they’re committed to helping us meet that deadline and they are real partners in this process with us,” he said.
However, Hoskins said he didn’t believe Texas would be at greater risk of a screwworm infestation before the facility is expected to be in production than it is today.
Phillip Kaufman with Texas A&M AgriLife, said the USDA had done a good job of keeping it in Mexico so far.
“If you look at where we were a year ago, it’s almost in the same place,” Kaufman said.
Not everyone agreed.
Niedecken warned that the threat of New World Screwworm reaching South Texas would go up dramatically in the spring.
Gustavo Sabatini, a veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, a German company that produces therapeutics and parasiticides, also noted that the cold weather may be deterring the insect from flying north temporarily.
“Once spring comes, it’s going to find the perfect conditions to thrive and it’s going to be difficult for Texas to be kept free of that,” Sabatini said.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Disclosure: Texas A&M AgriLife has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.