APHIS To Hold Listening Sessions on New World Screwworm Technologies and Tools

Washington, D.C., June 23, 2025—On June 18, 2025, Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a bold plan to combat New World screwworm (NWS). This plan calls for innovation to eradicate this pest from Mexico and Central America and protect U.S. animal agriculture. Starting this week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will hold four public listening sessions to solicit input from stakeholders and inform the finalization of future plans.

During these sessions, APHIS will gather feedback on the following topics:

Sterile fly production technology
Eradication tools and technologies aside from sterile fly production
The benefits and barriers, including timelines and costs of enhanced domestic versus international sterile fly production
Other innovative ideas

Participants must register for the virtual listening session(s) in advance and indicate if they would like to verbally provide comments. The listening sessions will begin with a short update on APHIS’ NWS response followed by stakeholder comments for the remainder of the meeting. In order to hear from as many participants as possible, we ask that speakers plan to limit their comments to 3 minutes or less. Participants may provide a written copy of their comments either before or after the listening session by sending them to aphis.nws.program@usda.gov.

To participate in a listening session, please register in advance using the link(s) below and provide your name, organization and email address. Once you submit your information, you will promptly receive an email that includes the webinar link. Each listening session will be recorded.

Friday, June 27, 2025, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Topic: Sterile Fly Production Technology

Register for the June 27 NWS Listening Session

Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Topic: Eradication Tools and Technologies Aside From Sterile Fly Production

Register for the July 2 NWS Listening Session

Monday, July 7, 2025, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Topic: Benefits and Barriers of Enhanced Domestic vs. International Sterile Fly Production (including timelines and costs)

Register for the July 7 NWS Listening Session

Friday, July 11, 2025, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Topic: Other Innovative NWS Ideas

Register for the July 11 NWS Listening Session

Please share this announcement with interested colleagues. To avoid any problems connecting to the listening session(s), do not share the unique link(s) you receive when you register.

For more information on NWS, including sterile insect technology, visit New World Screwworm.

We look forward to hearing from you.