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A fresh legal petition from a dozen health advocacy and farm worker groups is calling for the EPA to stop authorizing the use of antimicrobial agents on food crops across the United States, highlighting antibiotic-resistant proliferation and illnesses to agricultural workers.

Agricultural Industry Uses Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Pesticides

The farming industry sprays about 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal chemicals on American food crops each year, with many of these agents prohibited in foreign countries.

“Every year the public are at elevated danger from toxic microbes and infections because medical antibiotics are applied on plants,” commented a public health advocate.

Antibiotic Resistance Poses Serious Health Dangers

The overuse of antimicrobial drugs, which are essential for combating human disease, as pesticides on crops endangers community well-being because it can cause drug-resistant microbes. Likewise, excessive application of antifungal agent treatments can cause fungal diseases that are less treatable with existing pharmaceuticals.

• Treatment-resistant diseases affect about 2.8 million individuals and cause about thirty-five thousand deaths per year.
• Public health organizations have linked “therapeutically critical antibiotics” approved for crop application to treatment failure, greater chance of pathogenic diseases and higher probability of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Environmental and Health Consequences

Additionally, ingesting chemical remnants on food can disrupt the human gut microbiome and raise the likelihood of chronic diseases. These agents also contaminate water sources, and are thought to harm pollinators. Frequently poor and Latino field workers are most at risk.

Frequently Used Antibiotic Pesticides and Industry Methods

Growers use antimicrobials because they kill pathogens that can harm or destroy produce. One of the most common agricultural drugs is a common antibiotic, which is commonly used in clinical treatment. Figures indicate as much as significant quantities have been sprayed on American produce in a single year.

Citrus Industry Lobbying and Government Action

The formal request coincides with the regulator faces pressure to widen the use of pharmaceutical drugs. The bacterial citrus greening disease, transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting citrus orchards in southeastern US.

“I appreciate their desperation because they’re in serious trouble, but from a public health standpoint this is certainly a clear decision – it must not occur,” the advocate commented. “The key point is the enormous issues created by spraying pharmaceuticals on produce far outweigh the farming challenges.”

Alternative Approaches and Long-term Prospects

Specialists recommend basic crop management actions that should be implemented initially, such as increasing plant spacing, developing more hardy varieties of crops and locating diseased trees and promptly eliminating them to stop the diseases from spreading.

The formal request gives the Environmental Protection Agency about 5 years to act. Several years ago, the organization banned chloropyrifos in answer to a parallel regulatory appeal, but a legal authority reversed the regulatory action.

The regulator can enact a restriction, or has to give a reason why it won’t. If the regulator, or a subsequent government, fails to respond, then the coalitions can sue. The procedure could require over ten years.

“We are engaged in the long game,” the expert concluded.