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A recent formal request from a dozen health advocacy and farm worker coalitions is urging the US environmental regulator to discontinue allowing the application of antimicrobial agents on food crops across the America, citing superbug proliferation and health risks to farm laborers.

Farming Industry Applies Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Pesticides

The crop production applies about 8 million pounds of antimicrobial and fungicidal pesticides on US food crops annually, with a number of these chemicals prohibited in international markets.

“Each year Americans are at elevated danger from harmful bacteria and infections because medical antibiotics are applied on crops,” stated a public health advocate.

Superbug Threat Poses Serious Public Health Risks

The overuse of antimicrobial drugs, which are essential for treating medical conditions, as pesticides on crops threatens community well-being because it can lead to drug-resistant microbes. Similarly, overuse of antifungal agent pesticides can cause mycoses that are harder to treat with currently available medical drugs.

• Antibiotic-resistant infections sicken about millions of Americans and result in about thousands of mortalities each year.
• Health agencies have associated “clinically significant antibiotics” permitted for pesticide use to antibiotic resistance, higher likelihood of staph infections and increased risk of MRSA.

Environmental and Public Health Impacts

Additionally, eating antibiotic residues on food can disturb the digestive system and raise the likelihood of chronic diseases. These chemicals also pollute water sources, and are considered to damage bees. Frequently low-income and minority farm workers are most exposed.

Frequently Used Agricultural Antimicrobials and Industry Practices

Growers spray antibiotics because they kill microbes that can harm or destroy crops. Among the most common agricultural drugs is streptomycin, which is frequently used in healthcare. Figures indicate as much as 125,000 pounds have been applied on US crops in a annual period.

Citrus Industry Influence and Government Action

The legal appeal coincides with the Environmental Protection Agency encounters pressure to widen the use of human antibiotics. The crop infection, transmitted by the vector, is devastating fruit farms in southeastern US.

“I appreciate their critical situation because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a public health point of view this is certainly a no-brainer – it cannot happen,” Donley commented. “The fundamental issue is the enormous challenges caused by spraying medical drugs on edible plants significantly surpass the crop issues.”

Other Methods and Future Prospects

Advocates suggest simple crop management steps that should be tried before antibiotics, such as wider crop placement, breeding more hardy varieties of plants and detecting sick crops and rapidly extracting them to prevent the diseases from spreading.

The petition allows the regulator about five years to answer. In the past, the organization banned a chemical in answer to a comparable legal petition, but a court overturned the EPA’s ban.

The regulator can enact a restriction, or must give a justification why it won’t. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a later leadership, declines to take action, then the coalitions can file a lawsuit. The process could require many years.

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