Table of Contents
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that he has extended a formal written invitation to the New World screwworm, the flesh-eating parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, to meet with him at his earliest convenience for what Kennedy described as “a long-overdue conversation.”
“People have been very unfair to this organism,” Kennedy said at a press briefing, where he appeared without notes. “It’s misunderstood. It’s very smart. It’s very curious. It deserves a seat at the table.”
Kennedy did not specify which table. His office later clarified that the meeting, if accepted, would be “informal” and would not require the screwworm to register as a lobbyist.
The announcement came hours after the USDA confirmed the first domestic case of New World screwworm in a three-week-old calf in La Pryor, Texas, the culmination of a two-year northward migration through Central America that federal officials and cattle industry leaders had spent more than a year trying to stop before Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cut the USAID program specifically tasked with containing it.
Kennedy called that characterization “reductive.”
“You can’t stop something like this with bureaucracy,” he said. “You have to understand it. You have to meet it where it is.” He then tapped his temple twice.
Kennedy also raised concerns about the USDA’s primary countermeasure, a sterile fly dispersal program in which lab-sterilized screwworms are released into the environment to outcompete the wild population. “Nobody consented to that,” Kennedy said. “You’re talking about releasing a genetically altered organism into the ecosystem without a single public hearing.” He said he would be looking into it.
“This animal was here before the USDA,” Kennedy added. “It was here before the cattle industry. It was here before this country. I think it deserves some respect.”
Kennedy said he had hosted a parasitic worm previously and described the experience as “very positive, overall.” The worm died after consuming several ounces of the secretary’s brain. Kennedy said this was evidence that the risks of the current outbreak were “being overstated,” citing his own rise to cabinet secretary as evidence.
The screwworm, which was largely eradicated from U.S. livestock in 1966 and has since returned to threaten a cattle herd already at its lowest level since 1951, has not publicly responded to the invitation. A spokesman for the USDA said the agency was “coordinating a response” and would not comment on whether any response was expected.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed the Texas case and said the National Veterinary Stockpile was being deployed immediately. She did not mention Kennedy’s invitation but noted that “all tools are on the table.” She later clarified she had meant that figuratively when asked if it was the same table the screwworm allegedly had a seat at.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who had pleaded with federal officials for months to intervene as screwworm infections moved north through Mexico, said he was “glad there’s finally some outreach happening.” He paused.
His pause had not ended by press time.
The invitation was sent via certified mail to the screwworm’s last known address in Veracruz, Mexico.
