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A recent formal request from a dozen health advocacy and farm worker coalitions is calling for the EPA to stop permitting the application of antimicrobial agents on produce across the United States, pointing to antibiotic-resistant proliferation and health risks to farm laborers.

Farming Industry Sprays Millions of Pounds of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The farming industry sprays about 8 million pounds of antibiotic and antifungal chemicals on American plants annually, with many of these chemicals restricted in other nations.

“Each year US citizens are at increased risk from dangerous bacteria and diseases because pharmaceutical drugs are sprayed on crops,” stated Nathan Donley.

Superbug Threat Creates Major Health Dangers

The excessive use of antimicrobial drugs, which are essential for addressing infections, as pesticides on crops endangers community well-being because it can result in drug-resistant microbes. In the same way, excessive application of antifungal agent treatments can lead to mycoses that are more resistant with existing medical drugs.

• Drug-resistant infections impact about 2.8m Americans and lead to about thousands of fatalities each year.
• Health agencies have linked “therapeutically critical antimicrobials” approved for pesticide use to antibiotic resistance, increased risk of staph infections and higher probability of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Environmental and Health Effects

Additionally, eating antibiotic residues on crops can disturb the human gut microbiome and elevate the risk of long-term illnesses. These agents also pollute water sources, and are thought to damage bees. Often poor and Latino farm workers are most exposed.

Frequently Used Antibiotic Pesticides and Agricultural Practices

Farms use antimicrobials because they eliminate pathogens that can ruin or destroy crops. One of the popular antimicrobial treatments is a common antibiotic, which is often used in medical care. Data indicate approximately 125k lbs have been used on American produce in a one year.

Citrus Industry Pressure and Regulatory Response

The petition is filed as the Environmental Protection Agency faces demands to increase the utilization of human antibiotics. The bacterial citrus greening disease, transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, is destroying fruit farms in southeastern US.

“I understand their urgent need because they’re in dire straits, but from a societal point of view this is certainly a clear decision – it cannot happen,” the advocate said. “The bottom line is the enormous problems created by spraying medical drugs on produce significantly surpass the farming challenges.”

Alternative Solutions and Long-term Outlook

Advocates recommend basic crop management actions that should be tested before antibiotics, such as planting crops further apart, cultivating more disease-resistant varieties of crops and detecting diseased trees and rapidly extracting them to prevent the infections from propagating.

The legal appeal gives the regulator about five years to respond. In the past, the regulator outlawed chloropyrifos in reaction to a parallel formal request, but a judge overturned the agency's prohibition.

The agency can impose a prohibition, or is required to give a reason why it won’t. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a subsequent government, fails to respond, then the coalitions can file a lawsuit. The process could require many years.

“We are pursuing the prolonged effort,” the expert concluded.