A fresh legal petition from a dozen public health and agricultural labor coalitions is urging the US environmental regulator to stop authorizing the application of antimicrobial agents on edible plants across the US, highlighting superbug spread and illnesses to agricultural workers.
Agricultural Industry Applies Millions of Pounds of Antibiotic Crop Treatments
The crop production uses approximately 8 million pounds of antimicrobial and fungicidal treatments on American produce every year, with a number of these chemicals prohibited in foreign countries.
“Every year US citizens are at greater threat from dangerous pathogens and diseases because pharmaceutical drugs are sprayed on produce,” commented a public health advocate.
Superbug Threat Presents Significant Public Health Dangers
The widespread application of antimicrobial drugs, which are essential for combating medical conditions, as agricultural chemicals on fruits and vegetables endangers population health because it can result in drug-resistant microbes. In the same way, overuse of antifungal treatments can create fungal infections that are less treatable with existing medical drugs.
- Antibiotic-resistant infections sicken about 2.8 million individuals and result in about thirty-five thousand fatalities per year.
- Public health organizations have associated “clinically significant antimicrobials” permitted for crop application to antibiotic resistance, increased risk of staph infections and increased risk of MRSA.
Ecological and Health Consequences
Furthermore, eating antibiotic residues on crops can alter the digestive system and elevate the likelihood of chronic diseases. These chemicals also contaminate drinking water supplies, and are considered to damage pollinators. Typically poor and minority field workers are most exposed.
Common Antibiotic Pesticides and Industry Methods
Agricultural operations spray antibiotics because they destroy pathogens that can harm or kill plants. One of the popular agricultural drugs is streptomycin, which is commonly used in clinical treatment. Estimates indicate up to 125k lbs have been used on American produce in a single year.
Agricultural Sector Pressure and Regulatory Action
The formal request is filed as the Environmental Protection Agency experiences pressure to widen the use of human antibiotics. The citrus plant illness, transmitted by the vector, is devastating citrus orchards in southeastern US.
“I recognize their urgent need because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a broader perspective this is certainly a no-brainer – it cannot happen,” Donley said. “The key point is the significant challenges generated by spraying human medicine on edible plants far outweigh the agricultural problems.”
Alternative Solutions and Future Prospects
Specialists recommend straightforward agricultural actions that should be tried initially, such as wider crop placement, cultivating more robust varieties of crops and identifying sick crops and promptly eliminating them to halt the pathogens from propagating.
The petition allows the regulator about five years to respond. Several years ago, the organization outlawed chloropyrifos in reaction to a parallel regulatory appeal, but a legal authority reversed the EPA’s ban.
The regulator can implement a prohibition, or is required to give a justification why it refuses to. If the EPA, or a subsequent government, fails to respond, then the organizations can file a lawsuit. The process could last more than a decade.
“We are engaged in the long game,” the advocate remarked.
