By Staff Reporter |
Arizona will be home to a new facility to combat screwworms following intervention by Republican Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05).
Brooke Rollins, the secretary of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), announced the new sterile fly dispersal facility at the Douglas Port of Entry last week. The facility will target the burgeoning threat of the New World screwworm, which feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals.
The USDA pledged a $25 million investment toward the new facility as part of preparedness measures to reopen the port to livestock trade later this month. The facility will also benefit from existing investments from Texas, Mexico, and Panama.
Biggs predicted in a press release that the new facility would further improve the already significant decline in New World screwworm cases over the past year.
“Arizona is leading the way in prevention efforts, and I am grateful that this administration answered my call for assistance,” said Biggs. “I know how hard our state’s ranchers and farmers work for America’s economy and supply chain, which is why I’m doing all I can to protect their cattle.”
The USDA and the Arizona Department of Agriculture will determine the location and operational plan for the facility. The USDA estimated that construction of the facility “could be completed in as little as several months.”
According to the USDA, over the last year its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has worked alongside Arizona officials to trap and submit approximately 1,000 flies for testing — none of which were identified as the New World screwworm.
The southern livestock ports are slated for coordinated, phased reopening contingent upon Mexico’s continued adherence to the administration’s Joint Action Plan to combat the New World screwworm. The USDA selected the Douglas Port of Entry as the first to reopen due to the reported strength of livestock in adjacent Sonora, Mexico, and the port’s ability to implement enhanced inspection protocols.
The USDA announced the first confirmed case of New World screwworm in early June. Days afterwards, Biggs led fellow congressmen Abraham Hamadeh (AZ-08), Eli Crane (AZ-02), Paul Gosar (AZ-09), and Juan Ciscomani (AZ-04) in a letter advising Rollins that Arizona was uniquely positioned to assist USDA response efforts in combatting the burgeoning screwworm threat.
In that letter, the congressmen identified the state’s historic Douglas sterile fly facility site and scientific capabilities within the University of Arizona and the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
“[The site] remains a strategically valuable location for future production capacity and strengthens Arizona’s ability to support national containment efforts,” stated the congressmen. “The state’s border access, transportation networks, livestock expertise, and university-led research efforts position Arizona to complement USDA’s ongoing investments and make our state an essential partner in preventing an outbreak, safeguarding producers, and strengthening long-term regional stability before this pest can take hold on American soil.”
According to Cochise County officials, a city librarian with the Douglas Public Library, Margaret White, uncovered records earlier this year revealing that Cochise County had helped uncover the sterile insect technique that ultimately eradicated the New World screwworm from the 1960s through the 1980s.
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