U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s continuing to monitor New World screwworm developments in the southern part of the country.
The Iowa Republican tells Brownfield the pest hasn’t pushed too far north.
“They are making a good faith effort to restrict screwworm in cattle to a very limited space,” he said Wednesday morning.
Grassley says Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins has been on top of the issue.
“If it’s limited to there, I think the actions the secretary of agriculture has taken is pretty controlling.”
He suggests the administration should possibly look into the use of medical treatment to combat the pest.
The USDA’s Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service says as of Wednesday, there have been 29 screwworm cases in the U.S. with all but one occurring in Texas. The lone case outside of the Texas was found in the far southeastern corn of New Mexico on June 7th.
