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A newly filed formal request from twelve health advocacy and farm worker coalitions is calling for the EPA to stop authorizing the application of antibiotics on produce across the US, highlighting superbug spread and illnesses to farm laborers.

Farming Industry Applies Large Quantities of Antibiotic Crop Treatments

The agricultural sector uses approximately 8m lbs of antimicrobial and fungicidal pesticides on US food crops each year, with many of these chemicals prohibited in international markets.

“Every year the public are at increased danger from dangerous pathogens and illnesses because medical antibiotics are applied on crops,” stated a public health advocate.

Antibiotic Resistance Presents Serious Public Health Dangers

The excessive use of antimicrobial drugs, which are vital for combating human disease, as agricultural chemicals on produce jeopardizes community well-being because it can lead to drug-resistant microbes. Likewise, frequent use of antifungal pesticides can cause fungal diseases that are less treatable with present-day medicines.

• Drug-resistant illnesses affect about 2.8m individuals and result in about 35,000 mortalities each year.
• Health agencies have associated “clinically significant antimicrobials” authorized for pesticide use to drug resistance, increased risk of bacterial illnesses and elevated threat of MRSA.

Environmental and Public Health Consequences

Meanwhile, consuming drug traces on food can alter the intestinal flora and increase the chance of persistent conditions. These chemicals also contaminate aquatic systems, and are believed to damage bees. Often poor and Hispanic farm workers are most vulnerable.

Frequently Used Antibiotic Pesticides and Industry Practices

Agricultural operations apply antibiotics because they eliminate bacteria that can damage or destroy produce. One of the most common antibiotic pesticides is streptomycin, which is often used in clinical treatment. Estimates indicate as much as significant quantities have been sprayed on US crops in a one year.

Citrus Industry Lobbying and Regulatory Action

The legal appeal comes as the regulator faces pressure to increase the use of medical antimicrobials. The citrus plant illness, transmitted by the vector, is severely affecting fruit farms in southeastern US.

“I appreciate their desperation because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a broader perspective this is absolutely a clear decision – it cannot happen,” Donley said. “The fundamental issue is the enormous issues caused by spraying pharmaceuticals on food crops significantly surpass the crop issues.”

Other Approaches and Future Outlook

Advocates propose simple agricultural actions that should be tested first, such as increasing plant spacing, cultivating more disease-resistant varieties of crops and identifying sick crops and rapidly extracting them to halt the pathogens from transmitting.

The formal request provides the EPA about five years to answer. In the past, the agency outlawed chloropyrifos in reaction to a parallel formal request, but a court overturned the EPA’s ban.

The organization can impose a ban, or is required to give a reason why it will not. If the EPA, or a later leadership, declines to take action, then the organizations can file a lawsuit. The process could take more than a decade.

“We are engaged in the long game,” the advocate remarked.