🔗 Share this article

A fresh legal petition from twelve public health and farm worker coalitions is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to discontinue authorizing the spraying of antibiotics on produce across the America, citing superbug spread and health risks to farm laborers.

Farming Sector Sprays Millions of Pounds of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The crop production uses around 8 million pounds of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on American food crops annually, with a number of these chemicals prohibited in foreign countries.

“Each year Americans are at increased threat from toxic pathogens and infections because human medicines are used on produce,” said a public health advocate.

Superbug Threat Creates Major Health Risks

The widespread application of antibiotics, which are essential for treating medical conditions, as crop treatments on produce endangers community well-being because it can cause antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Similarly, overuse of antifungal agent treatments can create fungal infections that are more resistant with present-day pharmaceuticals.

• Treatment-resistant illnesses sicken about 2.8 million individuals and cause about thousands of fatalities each year.
• Public health organizations have associated “medically important antimicrobials” permitted for agricultural spraying to drug resistance, higher likelihood of staph infections and elevated threat of MRSA.

Ecological and Public Health Effects

Additionally, consuming drug traces on produce can disturb the intestinal flora and increase the chance of persistent conditions. These agents also contaminate drinking water supplies, and are considered to harm bees. Frequently low-income and minority field workers are most at risk.

Common Antibiotic Pesticides and Agricultural Practices

Growers use antimicrobials because they eliminate bacteria that can ruin or kill produce. Among the most common agricultural drugs is streptomycin, which is commonly used in clinical treatment. Figures indicate approximately 125,000 pounds have been used on US crops in a single year.

Agricultural Sector Pressure and Regulatory Action

The formal request is filed as the regulator encounters pressure to expand the use of medical antimicrobials. The citrus plant illness, carried by the insect pest, is devastating citrus orchards in southeastern US.

“I recognize their urgent need because they’re in serious trouble, but from a broader standpoint this is absolutely a clear decision – it must not occur,” the advocate said. “The fundamental issue is the massive problems caused by applying medical drugs on food crops greatly exceed the crop issues.”

Other Solutions and Long-term Prospects

Specialists propose basic crop management actions that should be implemented initially, such as increasing plant spacing, cultivating more hardy strains of crops and detecting diseased trees and promptly eliminating them to stop the diseases from propagating.

The petition allows the EPA about 5 years to answer. Several years ago, the regulator prohibited a chemical in reaction to a parallel regulatory appeal, but a court reversed the agency's prohibition.

The organization can implement a restriction, or is required to give a justification why it refuses to. If the regulator, or a subsequent government, declines to take action, then the coalitions can take legal action. The legal battle could require over ten years.

“We are pursuing the long game,” the expert concluded.