Bicameral Lawmakers Demand Answers on USDA Cyclospora Research Terminations
As Cyclospora outbreak rages, Trump Administration moves forward with plans to shut down the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC)
Today, U.S. Representative Glenn Ivey (MD-04), alongside U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Steny Hoyer (MD-05), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), and Chellie Pingree (ME-01) and U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), sent a letter to the United States Department of Agriculture demanding answers on the Department’s decision to shutter all research related to Cyclospora in the midst of the largest outbreak in history and plans to close BARC, the largest and most diversified agricultural research complex in the world. The lawmakers urged USDA to reverse course.
Cyclospora has sickened nearly 20,000 Americans, hospitalized over 1,000 and killed at least two – with case totals expected to continue to rise. A recent Politico story reported that three research programs, that represent nearly all of the Cyclospora research at USDA, are on hold or have been terminated entirely.
“…[T]he proposal to decommission BARC will do nothing but disrupt this important work, endanger Americans’ health and safety, and harm our national security,” the lawmakers wrote. “Therefore, we request that USDA immediately cease its efforts to close BARC and halt its reorganization before it results in any more costly mistakes.”
The full letter can be read here.