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A newly filed formal request from twelve health advocacy and agricultural labor organizations is calling for the EPA to discontinue allowing the spraying of antimicrobial agents on produce across the US, highlighting antibiotic-resistant proliferation and illnesses to agricultural workers.

Farming Sector Applies Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Pesticides

The agricultural sector uses approximately 8m lbs of antimicrobial and fungicidal pesticides on American plants annually, with many of these substances prohibited in international markets.

“Each year the public are at greater danger from harmful microbes and diseases because medical antibiotics are applied on plants,” said an environmental health director.

Superbug Threat Presents Major Public Health Dangers

The overuse of antibiotics, which are essential for addressing human disease, as crop treatments on fruits and vegetables threatens public health because it can result in drug-resistant microbes. Likewise, overuse of antifungal agent pesticides can cause fungal infections that are more resistant with present-day pharmaceuticals.

• Drug-resistant illnesses impact about millions of Americans and result in about thousands of deaths each year.
• Public health organizations have associated “medically important antibiotics” permitted for agricultural spraying to antibiotic resistance, increased risk of pathogenic diseases and higher probability of MRSA.

Ecological and Public Health Effects

Additionally, ingesting antibiotic residues on produce can disrupt the digestive system and raise the chance of long-term illnesses. These chemicals also pollute aquatic systems, and are believed to affect insects. Often low-income and minority agricultural laborers are most exposed.

Frequently Used Agricultural Antimicrobials and Agricultural Methods

Growers apply antimicrobials because they destroy bacteria that can ruin or kill produce. One of the most common antibiotic pesticides is a medical drug, which is commonly used in healthcare. Figures indicate approximately 125k lbs have been used on domestic plants in a single year.

Citrus Industry Lobbying and Government Response

The formal request is filed as the EPA encounters urging to expand the use of human antibiotics. The crop infection, transmitted by the insect pest, is severely affecting fruit farms in the state of Florida.

“I understand their urgent need because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a public health point of view this is definitely a no-brainer – it must not occur,” the advocate stated. “The bottom line is the massive challenges caused by spraying human medicine on food crops greatly exceed the crop issues.”

Other Solutions and Long-term Outlook

Experts suggest simple agricultural actions that should be implemented before antibiotics, such as planting crops further apart, developing more robust types of crops and identifying infected plants and quickly removing them to stop the pathogens from transmitting.

The petition gives the regulator about 5 years to answer. Several years ago, the organization outlawed chloropyrifos in response to a parallel regulatory appeal, but a judge overturned the EPA’s ban.

The agency can enact a prohibition, or is required to give a reason why it won’t. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a subsequent government, declines to take action, then the coalitions can take legal action. The process could last many years.

“We are engaged in the long game,” Donley remarked.