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A recent legal petition from a dozen health advocacy and agricultural labor coalitions is demanding the Environmental Protection Agency to stop authorizing the spraying of antimicrobial agents on produce across the America, citing superbug proliferation and health risks to farm laborers.

Farming Industry Uses Millions of Pounds of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The agricultural sector uses around 8m lbs of antimicrobial and fungicidal pesticides on American food crops every year, with several of these chemicals banned in international markets.

“Annually Americans are at increased threat from dangerous bacteria and illnesses because medical antibiotics are used on produce,” stated an environmental health director.

Superbug Threat Poses Serious Health Risks

The excessive use of antimicrobial drugs, which are vital for treating human disease, as agricultural chemicals on produce endangers population health because it can cause superbug bacteria. Similarly, overuse of antifungal pesticides can lead to fungal infections that are harder to treat with present-day medical drugs.

• Antibiotic-resistant diseases affect about millions of people and lead to about thousands of fatalities annually.
• Regulatory bodies have linked “clinically significant antibiotics” approved for crop application to treatment failure, increased risk of pathogenic diseases and higher probability of MRSA.

Environmental and Health Consequences

Additionally, eating antibiotic residues on food can disrupt the digestive system and increase the chance of long-term illnesses. These chemicals also taint drinking water supplies, and are considered to damage insects. Often poor and Latino farm workers are most vulnerable.

Common Agricultural Antimicrobials and Industry Practices

Farms spray antibiotics because they kill pathogens that can harm or kill plants. Among the most common antibiotic pesticides is a common antibiotic, which is often used in healthcare. Figures indicate approximately 125,000 pounds have been applied on domestic plants in a annual period.

Agricultural Sector Pressure and Regulatory Action

The legal appeal coincides with the Environmental Protection Agency faces pressure to expand the use of medical antimicrobials. The citrus plant illness, transmitted by the insect pest, is destroying citrus orchards in Florida.

“I understand their desperation because they’re in dire straits, but from a societal perspective this is certainly a obvious choice – it cannot happen,” the advocate commented. “The bottom line is the enormous challenges created by spraying human medicine on edible plants greatly exceed the crop issues.”

Other Methods and Future Outlook

Specialists suggest simple crop management steps that should be implemented first, such as increasing plant spacing, cultivating more robust strains of produce and locating sick crops and promptly eliminating them to halt the pathogens from spreading.

The formal request provides the Environmental Protection Agency about 5 years to answer. Several years ago, the agency banned chloropyrifos in reaction to a parallel regulatory appeal, but a legal authority reversed the regulatory action.

The organization can impose a prohibition, or is required to give a reason why it won’t. If the EPA, or a later leadership, fails to respond, then the groups can sue. The procedure could require many years.

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