As of Monday morning, the number of confirmed New World Screwworm cases in the U.S. had reached 12. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) said it’s important to be vigilant but not to panic. The agricultural sector has known this was coming for more than a year and is prepared.
“This is not an administration that’s caught flat-footed on this. We’ve seen it coming now for well over a year, and they’ve been aggressively planning and preparing for this. They’ve now spent right at a billion dollars, a billion with a ‘B,’ in preparation to be able to take this on. So, it is time for the fight here, but it’s also time for folks to not panic on this.”
It’s very important to remind the general public that their food is safe.
“It doesn’t affect the food supply on this for individuals. It doesn’t affect humans in the way this thing attacks, but we do need to be more aggressive in raising more cattle and making sure we’re protecting ourselves from this.”