Environmental Protection Agency Pressured to Prohibit Application of Antimicrobial Drugs on US Food Crops Amid Superbug Concerns

A newly filed formal request from a dozen public health and farm worker groups is demanding the US environmental regulator to cease permitting the spraying of antimicrobial agents on edible plants across the America, pointing to antibiotic-resistant proliferation and illnesses to agricultural workers.

Farming Industry Applies Substantial Amounts of Antibiotic Pesticides

The farming industry applies around 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on US plants every year, with many of these substances restricted in foreign countries.

“Each year Americans are at increased threat from harmful microbes and diseases because pharmaceutical drugs are used on crops,” commented Nathan Donley.

Antibiotic Resistance Creates Serious Health Threats

The widespread application of antibiotics, which are vital for treating human disease, as crop treatments on crops threatens community well-being because it can result in antibiotic-resistant pathogens. In the same way, frequent use of antifungal agent pesticides can create fungal diseases that are less treatable with existing medicines.

• Antibiotic-resistant infections impact about 2.8 million individuals and lead to about 35,000 mortalities per year.
• Health agencies have connected “therapeutically critical antibiotics” authorized for pesticide use to treatment failure, increased risk of staph infections and increased risk of MRSA.

Environmental and Public Health Effects

Meanwhile, consuming drug traces on produce can disturb the intestinal flora and elevate the likelihood of persistent conditions. These agents also contaminate drinking water supplies, and are believed to damage insects. Typically economically disadvantaged and minority field workers are most at risk.

Frequently Used Agricultural Antimicrobials and Industry Practices

Growers spray antimicrobials because they kill microbes that can harm or destroy crops. Among the popular agricultural drugs is a common antibiotic, which is frequently used in clinical treatment. Data indicate up to 125,000 pounds have been used on American produce in a one year.

Citrus Industry Lobbying and Regulatory Action

The legal appeal comes as the Environmental Protection Agency experiences demands to increase the use of human antibiotics. The bacterial citrus greening disease, spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting fruit farms in southeastern US.

“I appreciate their desperation because they’re in serious trouble, but from a societal perspective this is certainly a clear decision – it must not occur,” the expert commented. “The key point is the massive challenges generated by spraying pharmaceuticals on food crops far outweigh the agricultural problems.”

Alternative Approaches and Future Prospects

Advocates recommend basic agricultural measures that should be tested initially, such as increasing plant spacing, breeding more hardy varieties of crops and locating infected plants and rapidly extracting them to halt the infections from spreading.

The formal request gives the regulator about half a decade to act. In the past, the regulator outlawed chloropyrifos in response to a comparable formal request, but a legal authority reversed the agency's prohibition.

The regulator can enact a prohibition, or has to give a justification why it refuses to. If the EPA, or a later leadership, does not act, then the organizations can sue. The procedure could require many years.

“We are engaged in the extended strategy,” the expert concluded.