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Return of the Flesh-Eaters

3/13/202642 min

If a species is horrible enough, do we have the right to kill it forever?

Seventy years ago, a nightmare parasite feasted on the live flesh of warm-blooded creatures in North America: the screwworm. That is, until a young scientist named Edward F. Knipling discovered a crucial screwworm weakness and hatched a sweeping project to wipe them out. Knipling’s seemingly zany plan to spray screwworms out of planes all over the continent— with US taxpayer money— succeeded, becoming one of humanity’s biggest environmental interventions ever. 

Today, screwworms have been gone so long that none of us in North America even remember them. But now, they’re coming back. And they’re forcing us to ask: in an era of climate change and rapid mass extinction— should we kill off a species on purpose? 

Special thanks to James P. Collins, Max Scott, Amy Murillo, Daniel Griffin, Phil Kaufman, Katie Barnhill, Arthur Caplan, Ron Sandler, Yasha Rohwer, Aaron Keefe, Gwendolyn Bogard, Maria Sabate, Meredith Asbury, and Joanne Padrón Carney

EPISODE CREDITS: 
Reported by - Sarah Qari
with help from - Latif Nasser
Produced by - Sarah Qari
Sound design contributed by - Sarah Qari
Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger

EPISODE CITATIONS:

**The latest information on screwworm outbreaks and precautions: 
screwworm.gov

Videos:

Podcasts:

Articles:

Archival materials: 

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Clips

Screw worms surge northward
Not if, but when
Eradicate a species forever?
Ethicists’ reluctant yes
Human bodies at risk
Horror in clinic hallways
The elegant sterile-male idea
Beyond ranchers: howler monkeys
Secret X-rays at night
A continent transformed

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Latif Nasser· Host0:00

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  3. Molly Webster· Panelist0:53

    Hey, I'm Molly Webster.

  4. Mona Manoukian· Panelist0:55

    Hey, I'm Mona Manoukian.

  5. Molly Webster· Panelist0:56

    Mona and I just made a snail episode. It's called Snail Sex Tape, and [laughs] we have not stopped talking about snails for, like, months.

  6. Mona Manoukian· Panelist1:04

    We've become [laughs] deeply obsessed with snails.

  7. Molly Webster· Panelist1:06

    I think we should all get snail tattoos.

  8. Mona Manoukian· Panelist1:07

    Ooh, a snail tattoo could be cute.

  9. Molly Webster· Panelist1:09

    Um, but you know what you can get instead of a snail tattoo?

  10. Mona Manoukian· Panelist1:12

    What?

  11. Molly Webster· Panelist1:12

    You can get an enamel snail pin in honor of our Snail Sex Tape episode.

  12. Mona Manoukian· Panelist1:18

    I've never been more honored in my life.

  13. Molly Webster· Panelist1:20

    I know.

  14. Mona Manoukian· Panelist1:20

    It is based on a real medieval snail miniature. I will be rocking it on my jean jacket- [laughs] ... all spring long.

  15. Molly Webster· Panelist1:27

    So to get one of these pins, you have to

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