And we think beef is expensive now!
DOGE cut 20% of APHIS the agency that protects U.S. agriculture and now the screwworm parasite that wipes out livestock has returned to the U.S
Submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/6d530bc1-41a9-4d72-9258-fbd1cb4db2b0.jpeg
Comments
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s aways a great time to join team veggie!
Membership is open! Join for a single meal, or go hardcore and fully vegan! There’s no rules, your still on the team if you go veggie one meal a year or every single meal for the rest of your life. It’s flexible!
We’ve got tasty daals, chilis, curries, pan-seared mushroom steaks, a million flavors of hummus, tofus, pulled BBQ seitan, juicy vital wheat gluten roasts, and so much more!
It’s also cheap! Homemade hummus is incredible and light on the wallet! You’ll discover a world of extremely tasty foods!
lonefighter@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
What’s your favorite simple and easy vegetarian recipe that’s filling?
I’m not vegetarian, I love me a good cheeseburger every once in a blue moon and always will, but I don’t eat a lot of red meat and I’ve been trying to eat less and less meat in general. I’m not going to pretend eating meat in today’s world is ethical, but neither will there be a noticeable difference if I stop buying my pound or two of chicken and a filet of fish every month. I grew up on a meat and potatoes diet and while I’ve learned a lot since then I’m still not great at cooking filling vegetarian meals, I feel like every time I cook completely without meat I end up absolutely starving in an hour, even if I have protein from other sources.
Mavvik@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I love this. Im firmly in team veg but still haven’t given up meat. It may come one day, but for now im happy with about half my meals being vegetarian.
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Being a vegetarian won’t save you from maggots eating your skin though.
k0e3@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I dunno if this will help anyone, but I realized salads are way more enjoyable for me once I started mixing buldak sauce with my dressing.
Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
As a vegan, this kind of language is inclusionary and promotes adoption of our lifestyle, even if it’s slow as molasses.
Thank you for your advocacy!
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
The bad thing is, this will effect all food prices. As one food price rises, people buy alternatives, which raises the price of everything else.
Still, they aren’t going to rise as much as beef, so it’s still a good idea to switch. It’s just good to keep in mind that no one is isolated.
thingAmaBob@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
If I could, I would have done it years ago. I imagine there are others like me who have health issues that keep them from the switch. I’ve been to many medical professionals and I just can’t do it. I was told I actually have to eat more meat which sucks, but I do get sick if I don’t.
dan69@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Please don’t do choco hummus
scala@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Hail Seitan! 15+ years here vegan. Won’t ever go back.
Paradachshund@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
It already got too expensive for me to justify, so any more doesn’t really change the calculus 🫠
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Conservatives only know how to do one thing while governing which is to close their eyes, press the gas pedal and dare the road to swerve as the charge ahead with no clue what is going to happen.
Ironic we call them “conservatives”.
grue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The only thing “conservatives” ever conserve, ever have conserved, or ever intended to conserve, is hierarchical power. Conservatism only happens to line up with “preserving that which currently exists” in the sense that, when conservatism was initially developed, the system that currently existed was monarchy.
SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
It’s mind boggling how many people don’t know the origins of modern conservatism. The nobles that escaped having their heads chopped off with the king in France formed a political party to conserve the old hierarchical system to retain control of the country. From the start they are only motivated by power. If you ever wondered why they don’t really have any values or moral compass, that is the answer.
spacegoat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They’re called conservatives because they should all be in conservatorships. That being the case, I think they should be called asylumists.
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
gandalf_der_12te@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
conservatives don’t conserve anything. the word comes from “con-serva” which is latin and means with-slaves. what that means is that they were historically the pro-slavery party.
Tetragrade@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
There could be scary things out there in the dark, best not to see them.
turtlesareneat@piefed.ca 2 weeks ago
In fairness they’ve been spreading Northward yearly for several years, we knew they were coming and eradication efforts have been underway for a while to try to blunt it. But, with the idiots currently in charge, just assume those efforts have been botched until proven otherwise.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
the eradication program ended in 22-23, they were making headway ever since.
Folstar@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
At no point did the eradication program end. In 23-24 Biden’s USDA quadrupled funding to the Panama facility producing sterile flies. The facility had been underfunded for years (/wave Trump1) and at some point during Covid lost contain of the Darian Gap, officially reaching “we fucked up” thresholds in 2022.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
‘Murica got exactly what’ Murica deserved
There are awful, powerful people in the background pulling the levers of power, but this isn’t new
It has always been fucked. It wasn’t founded on the ideals of freedom or anything noble
It was stolen, then built with slavery, and that slavery was just rebranded as capitalism so white people would buy into it, so long as they still felt superior to everyone else
The cruelty and greed have always been the defining characteristics
Auli@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
You mean rich white guys who didn’t want to pay taxes. I’m shocked America turned out the way it did.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Trump embodies the USA and is the direct result we could only get from our two party system.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 2 weeks ago
That’s why I don’t necessarily blame one person here. George Carlin said it best. Selfish ignorant people vite for selfish ignorant leaders. If it wasn’t him it’d be someone else. The problem isn’t one person, it’s that such a massive amount of voters are selfish and willfully ignorant.
jaemo@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
One of your own poets articulated nicely:
Sold, stolen, arriving on the nightmare Praying for a dream.
BigMacHole@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
We Saved MONEY!
-Ranchers whose Taxes INCREASED!
ClownStatue@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Exactly. Every one of those fuckers will happily vote R again after their herds all die off, because “RepUbLIcnS er BeTr for du EcoNiMeE!”
BNE@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Australia once again vindicated for banning beef from the USA years ago.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
We do a fair job at banning some of their people too
I like seeing local losers pay for tickets to the speaking event of some utter cunt who will be refused a visa, and then the pathetic losers whine about losing their money
BNE@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Yeah, I hear you. Sky and the cookers have done a number on people out there.
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I feel sorry for the cows, they did not vote for the MAGA shitheads.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
They voted for MOOGA.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
COWS, any kind of livestocks, it also include pets and most warm blooded mammals.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2 weeks ago
Shit, I’m a worm blooded mammal!
FatVegan@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
They never voted to be tortured and killed either.
Patrikvo@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
grte@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Well don’t worry, this administration has a tried and true solution. If you stop checking for screwworm, it’s not there.
starlinguk@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Daily reminder that the US government is a doomsday cult. This is is by design.
Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Still not sure if Genestealer cultist or chaos gods
PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Once trump dies they’re going to hoist his corpse on a golden throne and sacrifice Kid Rock fans daily just to keep him going.
BillyClark@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I just saw this yesterday, and that article had an estimated yearly impact of how much money farmers/ranchers would lose every year if screwworm comes back to the US, and IIRC, it was something like $900 million.
zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
That’s not even enough for a ballroom.
Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
Kurzgesagt did a good episode on screworms.
bluegreenpurplepink@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is so much more horrifying than I realized. Humans can get it too. Here’s a CDC article on it if you dare. www.cdc.gov/new-world-screwworm/about/index.html
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2 weeks ago
Symptoms can include
Feeling maggots (larvae) move or seeing maggots within a skin wound or sore, or in the ears, nose, eyes, or mouth. Painful skin wounds or sores that worsen within a few days. A foul-smelling odor from the site of the infestation. Bleeding from open sores.
Yeah, that doesn’t sound fun.
NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Seeing maggots move within the eyes. Yeah, I think I can go without meat in that case.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
‘Murica is a laughing stock, and rural’ Murica somehow managed to be even more stupid
EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Always remember that 50% of the population is more dumb than the average American.
Which begs the question of whether or not the median would be pushed up by conservatives actually being a minority in the US (studies claim that 60% of the population is more left leaning than the government regardless of who is in office), or if it would be even worse because we’re all actually just that dumb.
wasabi_noir@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
All those little doge twerps deserve the absolute worst.
1984@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Working as intended.
angband@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And with climate change, it could possibly spread further north than it used to, before it was eradicated in the US.
Paradachshund@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
When something is eradicated, but comes back, how does that work? Was it only eradicated because of ongoing efforts from this agency?
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Basically. We had previously driven the screw worm south of the darian gap and we had been keeping it there by continuously dropping sterile flys across the region to prevent them from breeding. But the mitigation measures were cut to save money so now we’re back to having screw worm in the US.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
This comment needs to be at the top. This was an intentional choice made in the first trump administration to just…stop doing the cheap thing that had been working for a generation. Now the exact expected outcome has come to fruition.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And to generalize it more, pests and diseases are rarely truly eradicated, that’s part of why smallpox is so notable, the virus only exists in laboratory settings anymore (and that’s partly because it’s a predominantly human disease). Usually eradication means in an area or in people in an area. Because of that it’s usually an active effort to keep it out. Measles was eliminated in the developed world, but it was still around, it was just kept at bay by mass vaccination. As vaccination rates fell it was able to come back through interactions with places it hadn’t been eliminated.
somename@hexbear.net 2 weeks ago
It was pushed out of North America by releasing large amounts of sterile flies, so that they’d mate and die without producing new generations. They pushed the range of the fly down slowly, until they hit Panama.
That is a very narrow strip of land connecting North and South America, allowing for a ‘wall’ of sorts to be made, by continually releasing batches of the sterile flies from sites in the area.
With Covid disruptions, and associated cuts to the department though, they’ve been creeping past the barrier, and there wasn’t a funding increase to push them back down. DOGE accelerated this by firing a bunch of the people involved.
Paradachshund@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Interesting, thanks for the answer!
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It was stuck in South America, and eradicated from North America, with the Darian Gap as the barrier IIRC.
But it’s been spreading north since like 2023. There’s been a kind of inescapable dread that it would come to the US eventually, but it happened faster than was expected.
mrmisses@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Because the Republicans ended the program that kept them away
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
the new world screworm was eradicated in NA up until 2023, when the program ended due to covid disrupting things.
pyre@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
awesome! for a moment i was worried famine wouldn’t be one of the things this administration would bring about.
Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Sir, this is clearly pestilence.
pyre@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
oh yeah. i should brush up on
the holy bookThe Four Horsemen lyrics.
Zacryon@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Looks like they are screwed.
titanicx@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Quit worming into the comments
Codandchips@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
He’s trying to wriggle his way out…
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Big brain billionaire syndrome
TwilitSky@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They will always be protected from the consequences of their actions. Always.
craftrabbit@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
If you don’t know about the parasite, I really like this Kurzgesagt video explaining it (YouTube link)
Kzad_Bhat@chaos.social 2 weeks ago
@fossilesque lets all take this moment to hold our hat in our hands and look demurely at the ground to thank #TheSedionistFeloninCharge and his #FascistSouthAfricanImmigrant for making things so GREAT.
XiaCobolt@hexbear.net 2 weeks ago
Making America eat less beef by killing all the cows. 4D chess Mr President.
motruck@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
The shidas touch, touches everything.
butsbutts@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
mm tasty parasites
resting_parrot@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I’m always for shitting on what doge did. It was pretty bad. In this particular case, the screwworm was making its way back towards the US before trump was back in office. Cutting funding almost certainly made it harder to prevent this, but it was probably coming anyway.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Making America Great Again! like it’s 1965!
Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
/s
tremble5218@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I guess they are screwed now.
The_v@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hmmm… Guess what percentage of the owners who raise cattle voted for the orange moron?
98.5%, 99% or 99.5?
thorhop@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
100%
Farm people always vote against their own interests - and it shows.
thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know . . . morons
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
it will be 0 once the screworms decimate the herds.
arrow74@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
As we know Mexico being endemic to the parasite has cattle
saltesc@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Literally has nothing to do with Trump or Trump voters.
While the USDA has long been prepared and will just repeat their actions of last time—which the article implies they’ve already prepared for—it’s more a concern of what happened to Central/South America, or the fly’s geneology or reproductive behaviours that has caused the safe zone to slowly get overrun these past few years.
If you really want to point this to Trump, I guess you’ll need to find some sort of link to something the US did that somehow caused Panama and then Mexico to get re-invaded, about 6-12 months before he was in office.
The_v@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The moron cut a critical organization when a major threat was known to be migrating north.
The agency needed a massive influx of resources for an expanded effort to control it this year.
No the root cause is not his fault, but his dumbass decisions the the fucking morons who voted for him are absolutely at fault for the shitty response.
edible_funk@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
We lost containment because doge cut funding while beef snuggling in Mexico has ramped up, so it’s not just Trump’s fault. But he saw a brush fire and poured gas on it. Beef is going to a luxury for wealthy Americans. Just like pets are becoming. Somebody noticed that the bottom half of the country functionally does not participate in “the economy” so their solution is to eliminate them. Letting the screw fly run loose helps that goal. See also the repeal of environmental protections and regulations.