USDA Officials Praise Mexico’s Screwworm Prevention Efforts During Chiapas Visit
Courtesy of USDA/APHIS
During the recent trade mission that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins led to Mexico, USDA officials had the opportunity to visit one of the New World Screwworm Detection Sites. The visit offered important insight into how Mexican authorities are working to prevent the reintroduction of the pest into North America. We spoke with Dudley Hoskins, USDA’s Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, to learn what his observations were on the enforcement actions being taken.
Hoskins explained the group’s experience: “As part of that trip and delegation to Mexico, myself and colleagues went down to Chiapas for one day and we got to see the cattle inspections.” He described a highly coordinated process involving both Senasica and local producers. “We saw Senecica and the producer community pulling trucks up to the inspection points, offloading cattle, treating them, inspecting them, cleaning the trucks, and then putting them back on the truck with the certification of the treatment and location of that vehicle and continue to move them up through the Senecica system within Mexico.”
His impressions underscored the thoroughness of the operation. “I will tell you what I saw when I was there was a very thorough and serious operation. It was reflective, in my estimation, of the significance that Senecica and our Mexican counterparts have invested and addressed resources to mitigate the threat of screwworm ever getting back into the U.S.”
Despite the progress, Hoskins emphasized that vigilance remains essential. “So certainly, as the Secretary tells us, always more work to do. There’s always a number of challenges and threats, whether it’s moving live cattle, horses, bison, or whether it’s just wildlife or domestic animals or even potential human transmission.” He noted that the potential movement of the screwworm through diverse pathways makes ongoing cooperation critical.
Still, the visit offered reassurance to APHIS officials. “So there’s a lot of threats in terms of how the screwworm can move throughout Mexico, but what we saw at the Chiapas checkpoint and inspection was reassuring to us at APHIS that our counterparts are taking this challenge seriously.”
The USDA’s continued collaboration with Mexico remains vital in protecting livestock industries on both sides of the border.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.