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President Donald Trump has appointed a new Senior Advisor for New World Screwworm Preparedness. John Bellinger has been appointed in this role and according to USDA, “will integrate into USDA’s team to help further drive its robust effort to explore all available technologies to combat the New World Screwworm.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said, “I want to thank John for joining our team as USDA transitions to the next phase of fighting and eradicating this pest from our borders, as we did nearly sixty years ago, yet it came back due to Biden’s failed open border policies. John’s roots in Texas where New World screwworm is at ground zero, and his private sector experience in the related food safety and cattle industries, will help the administration advance our response and protect U.S. livestock.”
Senior Advisor Bellinger said, “New World Screwworm presents unique challenges to America’s ranchers, and Secretary Rollins has taken dramatic steps to work on building up our domestic response to this pest. USDA is responding in real time and building up long term capabilities to push back New World Screwworm beyond our borders and past the Darien Gap. I look forward to working with USDA and our state partners as continuing ramping up testing, detection, and release of our tools to reduce these flies’ populations.”
The appointment comes as additional detections have been noted in Texas including a goat in Gillespie County and a calf in Edwards County taking the total number of cases in Texas to date to 7.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.