Agriculture Secretary Calls Texas Commissioner Unserious Over Screwworm Response
The U.S. Agriculture Secretary criticized the Texas Agriculture Commissioner for questioning federal handling of a New World screwworm detection. The exchange comes after the first case was found in Texas last week.
axios.comAgriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Monday called Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller "unserious" after he criticized the USDA's response to a New World screwworm detection in Texas. The commissioner, who lost his March Republican primary despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump, has argued that the department acted too slowly and ignored a response mechanism he has pushed.
At a Monday news conference in Texas, Rollins addressed Miller's claim that ranchers would not report cases for fear of quarantine.
"That is a very unserious comment, from perhaps an unserious ag commissioner with just a few months left," she said.
Background on the Outbreak The first case was detected last Wednesday.
Miller urged the USDA to implement the Screwworm Adult Suppression System, a 1970s method combining insecticides with sterile flies, and appealed directly to President Donald Trump to take control of the response. The USDA is currently releasing sterile flies over the affected area, increasing trapping and surveillance, and establishing quarantine zones.
in the 1960s and does not threaten food safety. Rollins appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" earlier Monday and said the administration is working at "Trump speed" to contain the outbreak, including breaking ground on a new sterile-fly production facility.
