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A recent legal petition from multiple health advocacy and agricultural labor coalitions is urging the EPA to discontinue allowing the use of antimicrobial agents on food crops across the America, highlighting superbug proliferation and illnesses to agricultural workers.

Farming Industry Applies Substantial Amounts of Antibiotic Pesticides

The farming industry applies about 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on US produce annually, with several of these chemicals prohibited in other nations.

“Annually Americans are at elevated threat from harmful bacteria and infections because human medicines are applied on produce,” said an environmental health director.

Antibiotic Resistance Poses Major Health Risks

The excessive use of antibiotics, which are critical for treating human disease, as agricultural chemicals on crops threatens population health because it can lead to antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Likewise, frequent use of antifungal pesticides can lead to fungal infections that are less treatable with present-day pharmaceuticals.

• Antibiotic-resistant diseases impact about millions of people and result in about thousands of fatalities annually.
• Public health organizations have linked “medically important antibiotics” permitted for agricultural spraying to treatment failure, greater chance of bacterial illnesses and increased risk of antibiotic-resistant staph.

Environmental and Public Health Consequences

Additionally, consuming antibiotic residues on produce can disturb the digestive system and increase the chance of persistent conditions. These chemicals also taint aquatic systems, and are considered to harm pollinators. Often poor and Hispanic agricultural laborers are most at risk.

Frequently Used Agricultural Antimicrobials and Agricultural Practices

Growers use antimicrobials because they kill bacteria that can ruin or wipe out produce. One of the popular antibiotic pesticides is streptomycin, which is often used in medical care. Data indicate as much as 125,000 pounds have been sprayed on US crops in a annual period.

Agricultural Sector Pressure and Government Response

The petition coincides with the regulator encounters pressure to widen the application of human antibiotics. The citrus plant illness, transmitted by the vector, is devastating orange groves in the state of Florida.

“I recognize their urgent need because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a societal standpoint this is certainly a clear decision – it should not be allowed,” the advocate stated. “The bottom line is the significant issues created by applying human medicine on food crops far outweigh the farming challenges.”

Other Methods and Long-term Prospects

Experts recommend basic agricultural steps that should be tested before antibiotics, such as increasing plant spacing, cultivating more hardy varieties of produce and identifying infected plants and quickly removing them to prevent the infections from spreading.

The legal appeal provides the EPA about 5 years to respond. Several years ago, the organization outlawed a chemical in answer to a parallel formal request, but a judge reversed the agency's prohibition.

The organization can impose a ban, or is required to give a reason why it refuses to. If the regulator, or a subsequent government, does not act, then the groups can sue. The process could last more than a decade.

“We are pursuing the long game,” the expert concluded.