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A newly filed legal petition from a dozen public health and agricultural labor organizations is demanding the EPA to cease allowing the application of antibiotics on produce across the United States, citing superbug development and health risks to farm laborers.

Agricultural Industry Applies Large Quantities of Antibiotic Crop Treatments

The farming industry applies approximately 8m lbs of antimicrobial and fungicidal pesticides on American food crops annually, with several of these agents restricted in other nations.

“Every year the public are at elevated risk from dangerous pathogens and infections because pharmaceutical drugs are used on crops,” said Nathan Donley.

Superbug Threat Presents Significant Health Risks

The overuse of antibiotics, which are critical for combating human disease, as agricultural chemicals on fruits and vegetables jeopardizes public health because it can result in antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Similarly, overuse of antifungal agent treatments can create mycoses that are harder to treat with currently available medical drugs.

• Treatment-resistant illnesses impact about 2.8 million individuals and result in about thousands of mortalities annually.
• Public health organizations have linked “therapeutically critical antibiotics” permitted for agricultural spraying to antibiotic resistance, increased risk of pathogenic diseases and increased risk of MRSA.

Ecological and Public Health Effects

Furthermore, consuming antibiotic residues on crops can disturb the digestive system and elevate the likelihood of long-term illnesses. These agents also taint drinking water supplies, and are considered to harm insects. Often economically disadvantaged and Hispanic field workers are most at risk.

Frequently Used Antibiotic Pesticides and Industry Practices

Growers apply antimicrobials because they eliminate pathogens that can harm or destroy crops. Among the most frequently used agricultural drugs is streptomycin, which is commonly used in healthcare. Estimates indicate up to significant quantities have been used on domestic plants in a annual period.

Citrus Industry Influence and Regulatory Response

The legal appeal is filed as the Environmental Protection Agency experiences demands to increase the use of pharmaceutical drugs. The bacterial citrus greening disease, carried by the vector, is devastating citrus orchards in southeastern US.

“I recognize their urgent need because they’re in dire straits, but from a broader point of view this is definitely a obvious choice – it cannot happen,” Donley said. “The fundamental issue is the significant problems generated by spraying pharmaceuticals on produce greatly exceed the crop issues.”

Alternative Methods and Long-term Prospects

Specialists suggest simple crop management steps that should be tested first, such as increasing plant spacing, cultivating more disease-resistant types of crops and detecting diseased trees and quickly removing them to stop the diseases from spreading.

The petition provides the regulator about 5 years to answer. Several years ago, the regulator prohibited chloropyrifos in answer to a similar formal request, but a legal authority reversed the EPA’s ban.

The agency can implement a ban, or has to give a justification why it will not. If the EPA, or a future administration, does not act, then the groups can take legal action. The procedure could last over ten years.

“We’re playing the long game,” the advocate concluded.