Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is criticizing the USDA response to screwworm, saying the Agriculture Department has moved too slowly and is relying on an ineffective approach. “We have the ability to stop it, but so far we’re not using our best tools, we’re s continuing to use a 100-year-old technology, the sterile fly.” Miller advocates a screwworm adult suppression system consisting of fly bait, eliminating 85 to 95 percent of the flies.” If an animal is suspected of being infected with screw worm, USDA is asking ranchers to contact state or federal animal health officials. Miller told Texas reporters that he doesn’t expect that to happen. “If you’re a rancher and you get screwworms, they want you to report it so they can quarantine your ranch,” said Miller. “If I get a screwworm on my place, I’m going to treat my animal and I’m not telling anybody because I don’t want to be quarantined. That means no cattle can move off my place, I can’t sell my cattle, I can’t ship them, I can’t move pastures; Nobody is going to report when they have a screwworm flight, they’re just not. They’ll treat it their self and hope nobody finds out.”
