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A fresh legal petition from multiple public health and agricultural labor groups is calling for the Environmental Protection Agency to cease authorizing the application of antibiotics on food crops across the United States, citing superbug spread and illnesses to farm laborers.

Farming Industry Uses Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Pesticides

The agricultural sector applies approximately 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal treatments on American plants every year, with a number of these agents prohibited in international markets.

“Every year Americans are at elevated risk from toxic bacteria and infections because medical antibiotics are used on crops,” said an environmental health director.

Superbug Threat Presents Serious Health Dangers

The widespread application of antibiotics, which are essential for treating human disease, as pesticides on crops endangers community well-being because it can result in antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Similarly, excessive application of antifungal treatments can cause fungal infections that are more resistant with currently available medicines.

• Treatment-resistant illnesses sicken about 2.8m individuals and cause about 35,000 mortalities each year.
• Regulatory bodies have associated “therapeutically critical antibiotics” approved for agricultural spraying to treatment failure, greater chance of staph infections and increased risk of MRSA.

Ecological and Public Health Impacts

Furthermore, ingesting drug traces on produce can disrupt the intestinal flora and raise the chance of long-term illnesses. These chemicals also contaminate water sources, and are believed to damage bees. Frequently economically disadvantaged and Latino farm workers are most exposed.

Frequently Used Antibiotic Pesticides and Agricultural Methods

Agricultural operations use antimicrobials because they kill bacteria that can damage or wipe out plants. One of the popular antibiotic pesticides is a medical drug, which is often used in medical care. Data indicate approximately 125,000 pounds have been sprayed on US crops in a one year.

Agricultural Sector Lobbying and Government Action

The petition comes as the regulator faces pressure to widen the use of medical antimicrobials. The citrus plant illness, carried by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting citrus orchards in the state of Florida.

“I recognize their urgent need because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a societal perspective this is definitely a obvious choice – it should not be allowed,” the expert said. “The bottom line is the enormous challenges caused by applying medical drugs on food crops greatly exceed the crop issues.”

Alternative Methods and Future Outlook

Advocates suggest simple crop management actions that should be tried before antibiotics, such as wider crop placement, developing more hardy strains of produce and identifying diseased trees and promptly eliminating them to halt the pathogens from transmitting.

The formal request gives the EPA about 5 years to answer. Previously, the regulator outlawed chloropyrifos in answer to a similar legal petition, but a judge overturned the EPA’s ban.

The agency can impose a ban, or has to give a reason why it refuses to. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a later leadership, fails to respond, then the organizations can file a lawsuit. The legal battle could require more than a decade.

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