Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency just keeps unleashing new horrors on the American public. Aside from torturing government employees, killing thousands of people living in developing nations, and not actually saving taxpayers any money, the cruel cuts to foreign aid are now threatening the United States’ beef supply—which could spike already historically high beef prices even higher.
Let’s explain: Screwworm—a parasitic, flesh-eating fly—was detected in a cow on U.S. soil on Wednesday for the first time since it was eradicated from the country in the 1960s.
The infected three-week-old calf was found in Texas—which is home to the largest cattle population in the country and produces more than 15% of the United States’ beef. And given how deadly and fast spreading the parasite is, it could lead the already historically low cattle population in the country to plunge lower—which would spike already record high beef prices even higher than they currently are.
To understand just how quickly an infestation can grow, here’s how North Carolina State University entomologist Maxwell Scott, an expert in the screwworm, described its breeding process:
When the eggs hatch, the larvae grow really quickly. They complete early development, or embryogenesis, in about six to seven hours, and then the larvae start eating, and they go through three stages. By the third stage, they’re quite big maggots, about two-thirds of an inch long. And they really burrow into the flesh. They’re difficult to get out. They have little hooks on them, so they’re called the screwworm because that’s what people see.
Gruesome.
The detection of the flesh-eating screwworm comes after DOGE cut a monitoring program for the parasite in Central America, where it has been detected in recent years. According to the trade publication Agri-Pulse, the screwworm monitoring program in Central America was among the cuts DOGE made to animal disease monitoring programs funded by the now-shuttered United States Agency for International Development in foreign countries.
And thus many people are making the connection between the detection of screwworm on American soil, and DOGE’s idiotic and cruel cuts.
“Trump and Elon’s DOGE axed a program dedicated to preventing this. Now, a flesh-eating parasite we eradicated is back and hard-working Americans could pay the price,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote in a post on X.
Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the Trump administration has been monitoring for potential screwworm outbreaks and made moves that “bought time for USDA to increase domestic preparedness efforts.”
But even Texas Republican Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said Trump’s USDA—which thanks to DOGE lost more than 24,000 employees last year—has not done enough.
“For months, the screwworm has advanced rapidly through Mexico in spite of the USDA’s existing gameplan,” Miller said in a statement. “Even though billions of sterile flies have been dispersed by USDA, the screwworm has still advanced over 1100 miles from southern Mexico to Texas, and USDA has missed an important component. Now that it appears the first screwworm has arrived in Texas, the consequences of that decision are now staring us in the face.”
Miller specifically blamed Rollins, saying that, “Instead of using every available tool, USDA moved too slowly and relied solely on a partial solution that takes years to fully implement.”
Screwworm isn’t the only gruesome plague that DOGE may have helped spread. In Africa, experts are blaming USAID cuts for the rapid spread of a deadly strain of Ebola, which is suspected to have killed hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
“We are no longer able to get some supplies,” Amadou Bocoum, director of an anti-poverty nonprofit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told WIRED, specifically mentioning masks, hand sanitizer, and even testing supplies as things that are scarce due to funding cuts. “Because of that, we are not able to react immediately.”
Thankfully, Ebola has not made it to the United States yet. And so far, the screwworm was found in just one cow.
But if the screwworm outbreak spreads, those July 4 barbecues could get even costlier. Thanks, Elon!
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