Never seen mexico referred as south america before
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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In a plot twist, the trump administration forgets to sterilize the flies before releasing them. And now they've accelerated the incursion into the US
You joke, but there was some dude in Florida (I think) who was contracted to do this with fruit flies and he started dropping healthy ones to make sure the program never ended.
Source; I can't be bothered to look it up, trust me bro.
he can also extend his time in between appointments to allow the fruit flies to recover to achieve the same results. fruit flies breed pretty fast. thats why they have to do it to mosquitos(mosquitos might be harder since theres multiple species that can spread different diseases) and screworms so frequently, they lay a ton of eggs at once.
I am expecting the Trump Regime to cancel this program, and for EVERYONE to experience the consequences.
Kurzesaget: How Nuclear Flies Protect You from Flesh Eating Parasites
The worm in Kennedy's brain will axe it for sure
Hey that's how I know about screw worms too
Anyone wanna take bets on Trump cancelling the program to "save the budget"?
Depends on how he hears about it. If somebody brings it up as being beneficial to everybody, he'll want to axe it, but if he just hears that we're dumping tons of gross bugs on Mexico, he'll probably be on board.
Mexico is not "South American." Most of it isn't even "Central American." The person who wrote this needs some geography lessons.
This article also makes this sound like a brand new endeavor, as if this hasn't been an ongoing project for 70 years now
Well, where they're dropping them is recent, as the screwworm has been steadily moving north again.
Dropping them in texas is alarming, though. The battle was originally to keep them contained in central america near the isthmus. If they’re in texas they can spread widely around the us south, creating yet another reason not to want to be there.
There was an outbreak in Florida in 2016, which was quickly contained. We know how to stop it. They used to be widespread across all of North America
As an anerican my faith in the government stopping this is maybe 20%.
I'm right there with you as far as how our government is functioning on the whole, but everything I see indicates state and federal officials are taking this one seriously. Remember, this threatens the beef and dairy industries, which are not exactly politically passive
When you are not up to date on the topic, it sounds like a far-fetched dystopian alternate timeline.
I sent them a message to see if they'd update it. Just out of curiosity.
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Don't look up screw worms.
The article doesn't mention why this is suddenly an issue. They used to have a narrow choke point around Panama where they did this routinely to keep these things from ever getting into the US, but that was cut as part of the "government efficiency" fiasco, so now it's a widespread, growing, problem. Really the perfect example of why wildly cutting government spending without thought is not an 'efficient' approach to reducing spending.
There is also a picture of a screw-worm infected dog in the article, if you want to see what your republican sponsored future will be
That dog pic is actually a little tame. I've seen some nightmare inducing pics of screwworm infections.
It's worth noting that the current outbreak that's occurring north of Panama started prior to DOGE doing its bullshit. Apparently it began in 2022.
Worth noting that people still have no idea how much damage Trump and Republicans did the first go around.
I'm not saying they didn't do damage, but did they cut funding for this? There doesn't seem to be any evidence of that. There was an outbreak in Florida in 2016 before the 2022 outbreak
No concrete reason for the northward spread has been given, and Dr. Chancey said it is likely “multifactorial.” She noted that surveillance of NWS is limited in hard-to-reach areas across Central America, and livestock often are transported through unmonitored or insufficient checkpoints.
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I read something different re: the cause.
It’s difficult to say how they made it past the Darien Gap, but there are several possibilities, Earl said. Monitoring and surveillance for screwworm was relaxed due to the COVID-19 pandemic several years ago, and an increase in illegal cattle trafficking in the region might also be helping to spread animals infected with maggots. The increase in human migration northward may also be playing a role, Earl said.
but that was cut as part of the "government efficiency" fiasco
I hate Elon, Trump, DOGE, and MAGA as much as the next comrade, but I have seen no evidence this is the case. Where did you get this from?
Your comment made me think again at my sources. Re-researching starting with the link from @CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world and eventually through this Atlantic article it seems as though pandemic supply chain issues finally caught up to the fly factory.
But as @evenglow@lemmy.world said, I'd still chalk that up as first term damage, and Trump and DOGE should get screwworms.
But right after it mentions supply chain issues, it talks about unauthorized migration through the Darien Gap and the illegal cattle trade in Central America. Just saying, criticize where it's due, and Trump's due criticism for almost everything he's done, but this problem is complex and exists independently of him and independently of the United States
"MAGAts for maggots"
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I'm surprised they're still doing it. I would have assumed the administration threw a fit about having Mexico pay for it instead.
They are going to put a tariff on flesh eating flies imported from Mexico instead
Get rid of the MAGAts in America first.
Well if we don't deal with screw worms... they'll deal with us lol
Mexico
South American nation
Wat
Don't you know, only USA is true north America. Canada is their "younger brother" 🤣
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Screwworms are currently in negotiations with the Trump administration.
Of course they are. They have connections through RFK Jr's brain worm.
New meaning to the term "insider".
“Everyone’s saying screw worms are bad — WRONG! Screw worms are actually amazing for controlling pests. They SAVE livestock, save money, and keep our food supply strong. We should THANK screw worms, not attack them. Sad how people don’t know the facts! #ScrewwormSuccess #MAGA”
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