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A recent formal request from a dozen health advocacy and agricultural labor organizations is calling for the Environmental Protection Agency to stop allowing the use of antibiotics on produce across the US, pointing to superbug spread and health risks to agricultural workers.

Farming Sector Sprays Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The crop production sprays approximately 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal treatments on American food crops every year, with several of these agents prohibited in international markets.

“Each year Americans are at increased risk from harmful microbes and infections because human medicines are used on produce,” commented a public health advocate.

Antibiotic Resistance Poses Serious Public Health Risks

The excessive use of antibiotics, which are essential for treating medical conditions, as crop treatments on crops endangers community well-being because it can cause antibiotic-resistant pathogens. In the same way, frequent use of antifungal agent pesticides can lead to fungal diseases that are more resistant with present-day medicines.

• Antibiotic-resistant diseases sicken about 2.8 million people and lead to about thousands of fatalities annually.
• Regulatory bodies have linked “therapeutically critical antibiotics” authorized for agricultural spraying to antibiotic resistance, increased risk of staph infections and higher probability of antibiotic-resistant staph.

Ecological and Public Health Effects

Meanwhile, consuming drug traces on crops can alter the intestinal flora and elevate the likelihood of chronic diseases. These agents also taint aquatic systems, and are believed to harm bees. Typically economically disadvantaged and minority agricultural laborers are most exposed.

Common Agricultural Antimicrobials and Agricultural Methods

Agricultural operations use antimicrobials because they destroy pathogens that can ruin or kill plants. One of the popular antibiotic pesticides is streptomycin, which is often used in healthcare. Estimates indicate approximately significant quantities have been applied on domestic plants in a single year.

Citrus Industry Pressure and Regulatory Action

The formal request is filed as the EPA experiences pressure to increase the application of human antibiotics. The crop infection, spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, is destroying orange groves in Florida.

“I recognize their desperation because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a societal perspective this is certainly a clear decision – it should not be allowed,” the advocate stated. “The bottom line is the massive issues created by applying human medicine on edible plants greatly exceed the farming challenges.”

Other Approaches and Long-term Outlook

Advocates suggest basic farming measures that should be tested before antibiotics, such as wider crop placement, breeding more hardy strains of plants and identifying infected plants and quickly removing them to prevent the diseases from propagating.

The formal request gives the EPA about five years to answer. In the past, the agency outlawed a pesticide in reaction to a parallel legal petition, but a judge overturned the agency's prohibition.

The regulator can impose a ban, or is required to give a justification why it won’t. If the EPA, or a future administration, declines to take action, then the organizations can take legal action. The procedure could last over ten years.

“We are engaged in the prolonged effort,” the expert remarked.