Latest news with #AmericanVeterinaryMedicalAssociation
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
It's heating up in Oklahoma. Here are 10 things you shouldn't leave in a hot car this summer
Oklahoma could see record-breaking heat this month, so you probably want to crank up your air conditioners for the season — if you haven't already. You may also want to check what's in your car. Just like when it's freezing outside, there are certain things you shouldn't leave in the car during scorching temperatures. Temperatures inside your vehicle can become dangerous very quickly. Last year, 39 children died in the U.S. from heatstroke in vehicles, up 35% from 2023, according to the National Safety Council. Over half of the children who die of heatstroke in vehicles are as a result of a parent or caregiver forgetting a child in the car, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Here's what to know as Oklahoma heats up for the summer to keep you and your family safe: Never leave your children or pets in your car unattended It's never OK to leave a child or pet in a hot car. And cracking a window doesn't make a difference either, the American Veterinary Medical Association notes. Over the past 25 years, more than 1,010 children have died of heatstroke after they were left or were trapped in a hot car. In 2018 and 2019, there were a record number of hot car deaths with 53 children dying each year, the most in at least 25 years, according to In Oklahoma, 31 children have died in hot cars since 1998, according to the National Safety Council. How to prevent hot car deaths in Oklahoma: The U.S. Department of Transportation recommends the following steps to prevent hot car deaths: Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up for daycare as expected. Never leave a child in your vehicle unattended at any time. Rolling down the windows does very little to keep the vehicle cool during the warmer months. Check your entire vehicle, especially the back seat, before exiting your car. You can place your personal items in the backseat as another reminder to check the car before you leave. Keep your keys and fobs out of your child's reach and teach them that the car is not a place to play. If you see a child alone in a locked car, immediately call 911. What else shouldn't I leave in the car when it's hot out? Aerosol cans Extreme temperatures can cause aerosol cans to "become unstable" and potentially break or explode, according to Capital One Auto Navigator. Batteries Keeping batteries in hot weather or direct sunlight poses a fire risk, the U.S. Fire Administration says. Batteries that overheat can also leak or rupture. You should always follow the manufacturer's directions for batteries. Electronics Like with batteries, you should always follow the manufacturer's directions when it comes to electronics. Most — like Apple and Samsung — recommend you don't expose products to extreme temperatures at all. Food and beverages You shouldn't leave your groceries in a hot car for more than two hours, or one hour when it's above 90 degrees, Geico recommends. Not only can some items, like canned beverages, make a mess in extreme temperatures, the FDA says foodborne illness-causing bacteria doubles every 20 minutes. Lighters The flammable fuel inside of lighters could expand and breach their casings, posing a fire or explosion risk, according to Geico. The USB Lighter Company notes disposable or cheaper lighters are also more susceptible to extreme temperature effects than other kinds. Medications Extreme temperatures can cause medications to become less effective or cause unintended side effects, Baylor College of Medicine notes. You should not take medications if they have been exposed to heat and have changed color, texture or odor. If you're unsure whether a medication has gone bad, you should call a pharmacist or healthcare provider. Most medication bottles also have temperature and expiration dates, according to Baylor College of Medicine. Plastic bottles Plastic water bottles are known to 'leach' chemicals into water, a process driven by heat, USA TODAY reported. If you drink the water inside of a plastic bottle that's been left in a hot car, you could be ingesting some harmful chemicals. More: Fact check: Plastic water bottles left in hot cars don't release dioxins, do leach other chemicals Sunscreen Sunscreen that's exposed to high temperatures can shorten its shelf life, Geico said, citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 10 things you shouldn't keep in a hot car amid extreme heat in Oklahoma
Politico
14-07-2025
- Business
- Politico
Red states brace for SNAP fallout
Presented by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) With help from Grace Yarrow and Samuel Benson QUICK FIX — Republican state officials are assessing how to lower SNAP error rates — and whether they'll need to start paying for part of the program — after the passage of President Donald Trump's megabill. — House Republicans will need help from Democrats to pass their 'farm bill 2.0.' And the minority is signaling openness to working with their GOP counterparts. — USDA is aligning its fiscal 2025 spending levels for Forest Service programs with an executive order instead of congressional approval. IT'S MONDAY, JULY 14. Welcome to Morning Agriculture. I'm your host Jordan Wolman. Send tips to jwolman@ Make sure to follow your favorite ag team at @Morning_Ag for more. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. Driving the day SNAP FALLOUT: Republican state officials are still assessing how their budgets will be impacted by the GOP's recently passed megabill, which dramatically slashes federal funding for safety net programs and pushes food aid costs onto states for the first time. Several officials told MA that they're mainly focused on decreasing their payment error rates, which measures over and under-payments of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — the metric that will determine how much of the program states will need to pay for starting fiscal year 2028. States that can get their SNAP error rates below 6 percent by the time the cost-share kicks in will be exempted from paying entirely. Virginia's Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who leaves his term-limited office next year, said 'we are going to go to work and bring down the error rate with the localities' and that he's 'confident' that the state will 'transform the way that the SNAP benefit process is managed.' Virginia's error rate stood at 11.5 percent as of fiscal 2024. More details: That sentiment was echoed by Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate and North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, both Republicans. If states can't get their error rates down, they'll need to make tough decisions about whether to redirect existing funds, raise taxes, cut benefits or find some alternative route in order to sustain SNAP. While the majority of the country's 27 Republican governors didn't respond to MA's requests for comment about the megabill, some spoke to the unease within the party over the new policies. Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, a Republican and former first-term Trump administration official, said that 'there could be a negative impact' on the state's SNAP recipients. He said money would need to be moved from other programs to pay for benefits if the state's error rate is too high, though he declined to get into specifics. 'We may have to trim back some [other programs] in order to afford the programs necessary to support the people of Louisiana who do need help and who are dependent,' said Fleming, whose state had the third-highest SNAP participation rates in the country in fiscal 2023. 'The state may have more responsibility to provide benefits, and we may have to make those kinds of adjustments.' Alabama's Pate, who is also running for lieutenant governor, said he doesn't expect his state to try to backfill the federal cuts. 'We're probably not going to generate additional dollars to fund additional SNAP benefits that we can't afford,' he said, adding that 'everybody thinks budgets are going to start getting tighter' and that it will be 'all hands on board' to bring the state's 8.32 percent error rate under 6 percent. Some Republican state officials argue that if states are being told to pay, they should also have more control over how the program is administered. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey's office said before the bill passed that he opposed the plan and would prefer to have the flexibility to run the program free from federal requirements. And Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen told our Shia Kapos that if his state has to pay for SNAP, 'we're going to do it the Nebraska way, not the federal government's way.' BLUE POV: Officials in Democratic strongholds, meanwhile, are conveying the stakes in dire terms. Democratic states have higher error rates and will have to pay a higher portion of SNAP costs if they don't get their error payment rates down in time, according to a new analysis by Grace and Paroma Soni. 'I don't think [the solution is] raising taxes,' said Laura Montoya, New Mexico's Democratic treasurer, home to the nation's highest SNAP participation rate. 'We have a rainy day fund. Right now, it's not just raining, it's pouring, and it's flooding, and we're going to have to figure it out. And I don't think figuring it out is screwing people more than what the federal government already did.' In New York, roughly 300,000 people could lose access to food stamps because of the megabill, the New York Times reports. Barbara Guinn, commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, said state officials will have to make decisions about 'diverting resources from other priority areas,' lamenting the 'limited alternatives' for funding SNAP benefits. On The Hill FIRST IN MA: Thirty-two Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), are asking Senate Agriculture Committee leadership in a new letter not to include a Republican effort to prohibit state or local governments from imposing preharvest standards on agriculture products produced in other states in the next farm bill. They argue that the Food Security and Farm Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in April, would threaten 'countless state laws,' including measures aimed at preventing invasive pests and protecting animal welfare standards, 'opening the floodgates to unnecessary litigation.' The bill would effectively nullify California's Proposition 12, which sets standards for livestock confinement, and other similar state laws. (The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the California law this week, calling it in part responsible for high egg prices.) FARM BILL LATEST: House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson's hopes for passing a skinny farm bill this fall could hinge on support from Democrats incensed by his maneuvering for the GOP reconciliation package. While the Pennsylvania Republican's plans for additional farm spending will almost certainly face opposition from GOP fiscal hardliners, there are signs that lawmakers from the other side of the aisle may be willing to set aside their anger over the megabill's massive cuts to nutrition aid to work with him. But they won't forget about the slight. 'The Republican budget cut nearly $200 billion from SNAP, which certainly upends the traditional farm bill process,' said House Agriculture ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.). 'I'll work with anyone to improve the lives of our farmers, but you can't decimate a title of the farm bill and think it won't negatively affect the bipartisan farm bill coalition and make future farm bills harder to pass.' Read the full story from Samuel Benson out this morning here. AROUND THE AGENCIES AG APPROPS CURVEBALL: USDA is aligning its fiscal 2025 spending levels for Forest Service programs with an executive order rather than how Congress laid out the funds, the agency wrote in a letter to four Democratic senators last Thursday. The White House is revising the money to 'accomplish the Administration's priorities,' Kristin Sleeper, USDA's deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment, told lawmakers in a letter obtained by your host. Sleeper's letter said the agency's process would put an 'emphasis' on supporting Trump's March executive order seeking to increase timber production and accelerate the approval of forestry projects. 'Realignment of Forest Service actions with a new Administration remains a Department goal,' Sleeper wrote to Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Amy Klobuchar(Minn.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Patty Murray (Wash.). Murray is ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which Merkley and Heinrich are members. Klobuchar is the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. Row Crops — The Trump administration has moved to make it more difficult for immigrants to obtain federal food assistance, even through food banks, our Marcia Brown writes. — Federal immigration agents carried out immigration sweeps at two Southern California cannabis farms on Thursday, arresting about 200 suspected undocumented immigrants, per The Los Angeles Times — and Trump's border czar is pledging to give 'no amnesty' for undocumented farmworkers. — Texas farmers and ranchers are cleaning up damaged crops and land after floods ravaged a large swath of the state. (The Associated Press) — The West's most important river has shriveled over the past quarter century — and its leading climate scientist says things could get a lot worse. More from our Annie Snider here. — Trump on Saturday threatened 30 percent tariffs on two major U.S. trading partners: the European Union and Mexico. THAT'S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line and send us your agriculture job announcements or events: gyarrow@ marciabrown@ jwolman@ sbenson@ rdugyala@ and gmott@
USA Today
10-07-2025
- Health
- USA Today
The government plans to drop a horde of flies over Texas border. Here's why.
By dropping the sterile, fully developed flies, the USDA plans to prevent flesh-eating maggots from reaching the United States. Here's how. The United States plans to bring back a somewhat shocking, but very effective, campaign to fight a flesh-eating parasitic fly that's been sighted in Mexico. The plan: Breed millions of sterilized flies and drop them over the Texas-Mexican border to protect the more than $100 billion U.S. cattle and beef industry from the New World screwworm. "This can kill a thousand-pound cow in two weeks," said Dr. Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association. "The federal government is being very aggressive in working to contain this." It's not as crazy as it sounds. A similar effort worked well decades ago. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a release, "The U.S. has defeated NWS before and can successfully do it again." The effort works by sterilizing male screwworm flies so that when they mate with females the resulting eggs are infertile. Over time so few fertile eggs are created that the fly is eradicated altogether. An effort across the United States, Mexico and Central America that began in the 1950s was so successful this flying menace was totally eradicated north of Panama, except for a few tiny outbreaks. The U.S control program cost $32 million and was ended in the 1960s. But this past November, Mexico's Chief Veterinary Officer notified the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that a New World screwworm had been found in a cow in southern Mexico close to the border with Guatemala. This set off blazing alarm bells for the entire U.S. cattle and beef industry. So once again, USDA is ramping up its protective program to blanket the potential path of this reemerging threat onto the United States with a rain of sterile males to stop what USDA calls "a devastating pest." What is the New World Screwworm? So far, the screwworms have only been seen in Mexico. "We have not seen any screwworms cross over the border into the U.S. and we're trying hard to prevent that," said Bailey. By dropping the sterile, fully developed flies, the USDA plans to keep the maggots from ever reaching the border. The New World Screwworm, or the NWS for short, is about the size common housefly. It has orange eyes, a metallic blue or green body and three dark stripes along their backs, according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The fly gets its name for how its maggots feed on the living flesh of an animal by burrowing, or screwing, into an open wound, creating "extensive damage by tearing at the hosts' tissue with sharp mouth hooks," the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service states. This results in long, deep wounds in the surrounding flesh that are also susceptible to secondary bacterial infections, causing severe pain, and potentially death if left untreated. Livestock, pets and wildlife are all threatened, as are humans in rare cases. "To give you the heebie-jeebies, you can actually see the skin moving. And it smells rank," said Bailey. Animals at greatest risk include those that have recently given birth, have open wounds, or have undergone surgery or management procedures such as dehorning or branding, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. It's dangerous enough that veterinarians are urged to wear disposable gloves when treating affected animals. How do sterile male flies help? The screwworm first became a significant problem in the United States in 1933, according to the USDA. By the early 1960s, Southeast cattle producers had lost between $50-$100 million because of screwworm infestations. Beginning in the 1950s, the federal government established the Sterile Insect Technique, a method that utilized radiation to sterilize male flies. These mass-produced sterile males were released into target areas. They mated with females, resulting in unfertilized eggs. No fertile eggs meant no more screwworms. Similar programs have been created to release sterile mosquitos. The screwworm program was a stunning success. The insect was officially eradicated in the United States by 1966, at a cost of $32 million to complete – protecting the U.S. cattle and beef industry, worth more than $80 billion today. With the screwworm's return to Mexico, USDA on June 18 announced the launch an $8.5 million sterile fly dispersal facility in South Texas. It's anticipated to begin producing sterile males by the end of the year. In addition, USDA is working with Mexico to begin producing sterile screwworms. The agency is investing $21 million to renovate an existing fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico. It will be able to produce between 60 and 100 million sterile flies each week within a year. It's the first step toward producing the estimated 400 to 500 million flies needed each week to re-establish the new New World Screwworm barrier at the Darien Gap at the border of Panama and Columbia – and stop the movement of the flies. Pets, especially dogs, are vulnerable to the screwworm Wildlife, including deer, are vulnerable to the maggots as are pets – and especially dogs. "There's a treatment availalbe, but it takes several days in quarantine if a dog comes down with this," Bailey said. The treatment can only be used in non-food animals, which is why cattle simply have to be euthanized if they're infected. The goal is for the new effort will stop the screwworms long before they threaten the United States again. "Hopefully, this becomes another 'I remember when' story for veterinarians," Bailey said. Contributing: John Bacon, David Baratz, Greta Cross, Janet Loehrke, George Petras and Mike Snider.
The Herald Scotland
10-07-2025
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
US to fight New World screwworm by dropping millions of flies
"This can kill a thousand-pound cow in two weeks," said Dr. Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association. "The federal government is being very aggressive in working to contain this." It's not as crazy as it sounds. A similar effort worked well decades ago. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a release, "The U.S. has defeated NWS before and can successfully do it again." The effort works by sterilizing male screwworm flies so that when they mate with females the resulting eggs are infertile. Over time so few fertile eggs are created that the fly is eradicated altogether. An effort across the U.S., Mexico and Central America that began in the 1950s was so successful this flying menace was totally eradicated north of Panama, except for a few tiny outbreaks. The U.S control program cost $32 million and was ended in the 1960s. But this past November, Mexico's Chief Veterinary Officer notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that a New World screwworm had been found in a cow in southern Mexico close to the border with Guatemala. This set off blazing alarm bells for the entire U.S. cattle and beef industry. So once again, USDA is ramping up its protective program to blanket the potential path of this reemerging threat onto the United States with a rain of sterile males to stop what USDA calls "a devastating pest." What is the New World Screwworm? So far the screwworms have only been seen in Mexico. "We have not seen any screwworms cross over the border into the U.S. and we're trying hard to prevent that," said Bailey. By dropping the sterile, fully developed flies, the USDA plans to keep the maggots from ever reaching the border. The New World Screwworm, or the NWS for short, is about the size common housefly. It has orange eyes, a metallic blue or green body and three dark stripes along their backs, according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The fly gets its name for how its maggots feed on the living flesh of an animal by burrowing, or screwing, into an open wound, creating "extensive damage by tearing at the hosts' tissue with sharp mouth hooks," the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service states. This results in long, deep wounds in the surrounding flesh that are also susceptible to secondary bacterial infections, causing severe pain, and potentially death if left untreated. Livestock, pets and wildlife are all threatened, as are humans in rare cases. "To give you the heebie-jeebies, you can actually see the skin moving. And it smells rank," said Bailey. Animals at greatest risk include those that have recently given birth, have open wounds, or have undergone surgery or management procedures such as dehorning or branding, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. It's dangerous enough that veterinarians are urged to wear disposable gloves when treating affected animals. How do sterile male flies help? The screwworm first became a significant problem in the United States in 1933, according to the USDA. By the early 1960s, Southeast cattle producers had lost between $50-100 million because of screwworm infestations. Beginning in the 1950s, the federal government established the Sterile Insect Technique, a method that utilized radiation to sterilize male flies. These mass-produced sterile males were released into target areas. They mated with females, resulting in unfertilized eggs. No fertile eggs meant no more screwworms. Similar programs have been created to release sterile mosquitos. The screwworm program was a stunning success. The insect was officially eradicated in the United States by 1966, at a cost of $32 million to complete - protecting the U.S. cattle and beef industry, worth more than $80 billion today. With the screwworm's return to Mexico, USDA on June 18 announced the launch an $8.5 million sterile fly dispersal facility in South Texas. It's anticipated to begin producing sterile males by the end of the year. In addition, USDA is working with Mexico to begin producing sterile screwworms. The agency is investing $21 million to renovate an existing fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico. It will be able to produce between 60 and 100 million sterile flies each week within a year. It's the first step towards producing the estimated 400 to 500 million flies needed each week to re-establish the new New World Screwworm barrier at the Darien Gap at the border of Panama and Columbia - and stop the movement of the flies. Pets, especially dogs, are vulnerable to the screwworm Wildlife, including deer, are vulnerable to the maggots as are pets - and especially dogs. "There's a treatment availalbe, but it takes several days in quarantine if a dog comes down with this," Bailey said. The treatment can only be used in non-food animals, which is why cattle simply have to be euthanized if they're infected. The goal is for the new effort will stop the screwworms long before they threaten the United States again. "Hopefully this becomes another 'I remember when' story for veterinarians," said Bailey. Contributing: John Bacon, David Baratz, Greta Cross, Janet Loehrke, George Petras and Mike Snider.
Russia Today
04-07-2025
- Health
- Russia Today
US to drop billions of flies on Mexico and Texas
US authorities are preparing to release billions of flies from airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to stop the spread of a dangerous parasite, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The move aims to protect livestock, wildlife, and household pets from a flesh-eating maggot. Unlike most flies that feed on rotting or dead tissue, the screwworm fly poses a far greater threat as it lays its eggs in open wounds or mucous membranes of living warm-blooded animals and humans. Once hatched, the larvae burrow into the flesh, feeding on living tissue from the inside out, often causing severe infections or death if left untreated. 'A thousand-pound bovine can be dead from this in two weeks,' Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told the news agency. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reportedly planning to mass-breed adult male flies, sterilize them using radiation, and release them into the wild. The sterile males will mate with wild females, producing no offspring and gradually wiping out the parasite population. 'It's an exceptionally good technology,' said Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who studies parasites. He added that it could help solve 'some kind of large problem.' The measure is seen as a more effective and environmentally friendly method of disinsectization than spraying pesticides, the AP noted, adding that other nations north of Panama eradicated the same pest decades ago. Sterile flies from a factory in the Central American state reportedly kept the dangerous insects contained there for years, but they reappeared in southern Mexico at the end of 2024. According to the AP, the USDA will launch a new screwworm fly facility in southern Mexico as soon as next summer, with a fly distribution center expected to begin operating by the end of the current year. This will enable the US to import and distribute flies from Panama if necessary. The department is reportedly planning to spend some $8.5 million on the Texas facility and $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico, currently used for breeding sterile fruit flies, into one for screwworm flies.
