The U.S. fought the flesh-eating screw worm for decades. Now it begins again.

It took the U.S. decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to eradicate the flesh-eating New World screwworm. Here’s the plan to renew the fight now that it’s back.

The United States spent more than half a century and hundreds of millions of dollars driving the flesh-eating New World screwworm as far from its borders as possible. Now, it’s back.

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The species can eat the tissue of any warm-blooded animal, but it’s a particular threat to livestock and is often fatal for cattle. Some environmentally minded bioethicists have openly debated whether it would be moral to deliberately drive the screwworm into extinction.

“There are some species that it’s worth considering wiping out altogether and I do think the screwworm is one,” said Gregory Kaebnick, a senior research scholar at the Hastings Center for Bioethics.