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A fresh legal petition from twelve health advocacy and agricultural labor groups is demanding the EPA to discontinue authorizing the use of antimicrobial agents on produce across the United States, citing antibiotic-resistant proliferation and illnesses to farm laborers.

Farming Sector Uses Millions of Pounds of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The farming industry uses around 8m lbs of antimicrobial and fungicidal chemicals on American plants annually, with several of these chemicals prohibited in foreign countries.

“Each year US citizens are at greater risk from toxic bacteria and illnesses because human medicines are sprayed on plants,” commented a public health advocate.

Superbug Threat Creates Serious Health Risks

The excessive use of antimicrobial drugs, which are essential for combating human disease, as crop treatments on produce jeopardizes public health because it can result in drug-resistant microbes. Likewise, excessive application of antifungal treatments can create fungal infections that are more resistant with present-day medicines.

• Antibiotic-resistant infections impact about millions of individuals and result in about 35,000 deaths each year.
• Regulatory bodies have linked “therapeutically critical antibiotics” permitted for agricultural spraying to drug resistance, higher likelihood of pathogenic diseases and higher probability of MRSA.

Environmental and Public Health Effects

Additionally, eating antibiotic residues on crops can alter the digestive system and increase the likelihood of chronic diseases. These substances also contaminate drinking water supplies, and are thought to affect pollinators. Typically low-income and minority farm workers are most exposed.

Frequently Used Antibiotic Pesticides and Agricultural Practices

Growers apply antibiotics because they kill microbes that can damage or wipe out plants. One of the most common agricultural drugs is streptomycin, which is frequently used in clinical treatment. Estimates indicate as much as 125,000 pounds have been applied on domestic plants in a one year.

Agricultural Sector Pressure and Government Response

The legal appeal is filed as the regulator experiences urging to widen the utilization of pharmaceutical drugs. The bacterial citrus greening disease, spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting citrus orchards in Florida.

“I appreciate their critical situation because they’re in serious trouble, but from a public health point of view this is definitely a no-brainer – it should not be allowed,” Donley said. “The key point is the significant issues generated by using medical drugs on produce significantly surpass the crop issues.”

Alternative Approaches and Long-term Outlook

Advocates suggest simple farming measures that should be tested before antibiotics, such as planting crops further apart, cultivating more robust strains of plants and locating sick crops and rapidly extracting them to halt the infections from transmitting.

The formal request gives the EPA about half a decade to respond. In the past, the regulator banned chloropyrifos in response to a parallel formal request, but a legal authority blocked the regulatory action.

The organization can impose a restriction, or is required to give a reason why it will not. If the regulator, or a future administration, does not act, then the organizations can sue. The procedure could last many years.

“We’re playing the prolonged effort,” the expert concluded.