US government to build $8.5M fly breeding factory to mass produce millions of flesh-eating parasites — here’s why

Fighting flies with flies.

The US government will be opening a fly factory in Texas to mass produce millions of infertile flies as part of a sterilization campaign aimed at eliminating a flesh-eating parasite with a penchant for beef.

The $8.5 million breeding facility, just 20 miles from the US-Mexico border, will focus on the New World screwworm flies wreaking havoc in Mexico after an outbreak last year, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Wednesday.