U.S. officials broke ground for a New World Screwworm (NWS) sterile fly production facility in Texas to combat the flesh-eating parasites, which have spread across Mexico and pose a significant threat to America’s livestock, wildlife, and public health.
Located in Moore Air Base, Edinburg, the facility “is being built with an aggressive timeline designed to quickly expand the nation’s sterile fly production capacity,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in an April 17 statement.
Initial operations are set to start from November 2027, hitting production of 100 million sterile flies per week. “Construction continues immediately beyond initial operations to scale full production capacity to 300 million sterile flies per week,” the department added….