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A newly filed regulatory appeal from twelve public health and farm worker coalitions is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to discontinue permitting the application of antimicrobial agents on produce across the America, pointing to antibiotic-resistant spread and health risks to farm laborers.

Agricultural Industry Applies Millions of Pounds of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The farming industry sprays around 8 million pounds of antimicrobial and fungicidal treatments on American plants every year, with several of these agents banned in foreign countries.

“Each year the public are at elevated threat from harmful pathogens and infections because pharmaceutical drugs are applied on crops,” said a public health advocate.

Superbug Threat Presents Serious Public Health Risks

The widespread application of antimicrobial drugs, which are critical for addressing human disease, as agricultural chemicals on fruits and vegetables endangers population health because it can result in drug-resistant microbes. Likewise, frequent use of antifungal pesticides can create fungal infections that are harder to treat with currently available medical drugs.

• Antibiotic-resistant infections sicken about 2.8 million people and result in about thirty-five thousand fatalities annually.
• Public health organizations have associated “therapeutically critical antibiotics” permitted for agricultural spraying to antibiotic resistance, greater chance of staph infections and higher probability of antibiotic-resistant staph.

Ecological and Health Impacts

Meanwhile, eating drug traces on produce can disrupt the intestinal flora and raise the chance of long-term illnesses. These substances also pollute aquatic systems, and are thought to affect insects. Typically low-income and minority agricultural laborers are most vulnerable.

Common Antibiotic Pesticides and Agricultural Methods

Agricultural operations use antibiotics because they kill bacteria that can damage or destroy plants. Among the most common antimicrobial treatments is streptomycin, which is often used in healthcare. Data indicate approximately 125k lbs have been used on domestic plants in a annual period.

Agricultural Sector Lobbying and Government Action

The formal request comes as the EPA experiences demands to expand the application of pharmaceutical drugs. The bacterial citrus greening disease, transmitted by the vector, is destroying citrus orchards in southeastern US.

“I recognize their desperation because they’re in dire straits, but from a broader point of view this is definitely a obvious choice – it cannot happen,” the expert stated. “The key point is the significant issues created by spraying pharmaceuticals on edible plants significantly surpass the agricultural problems.”

Alternative Methods and Long-term Prospects

Specialists recommend basic crop management steps that should be implemented before antibiotics, such as planting crops further apart, breeding more hardy varieties of plants and detecting diseased trees and rapidly extracting them to halt the infections from propagating.

The petition allows the regulator about five years to act. Previously, the agency outlawed a chemical in reaction to a similar legal petition, but a judge overturned the regulatory action.

The agency can enact a ban, or must give a reason why it will not. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a future administration, does not act, then the coalitions can take legal action. The process could require many years.

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