Environmental Protection Agency Pressured to Ban Spraying of Antibiotics on US Food Crops Amidst Resistance Concerns
A newly filed formal request from a dozen health advocacy and agricultural labor groups is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to cease allowing the use of antimicrobial agents on produce across the America, citing superbug proliferation and illnesses to agricultural workers.
Agricultural Industry Applies Large Quantities of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments
The agricultural sector applies about 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal treatments on American food crops every year, with a number of these chemicals banned in international markets.
“Each year US citizens are at elevated danger from toxic microbes and infections because pharmaceutical drugs are applied on crops,” stated an environmental health director.
Antibiotic Resistance Poses Major Health Risks
The widespread application of antimicrobial drugs, which are critical for treating human disease, as pesticides on crops endangers community well-being because it can lead to antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Similarly, overuse of antifungal agent pesticides can lead to fungal diseases that are more resistant with currently available medicines.
- Drug-resistant diseases impact about 2.8 million Americans and cause about 35,000 fatalities each year.
- Public health organizations have connected “clinically significant antimicrobials” permitted for pesticide use to antibiotic resistance, higher likelihood of staph infections and elevated threat of MRSA.
Ecological and Public Health Effects
Additionally, eating drug traces on food can disturb the digestive system and elevate the risk of chronic diseases. These agents also taint water sources, and are thought to affect bees. Typically poor and Hispanic agricultural laborers are most exposed.
Frequently Used Agricultural Antimicrobials and Industry Methods
Farms spray antimicrobials because they destroy pathogens that can damage or wipe out plants. Among the most common antimicrobial treatments is a common antibiotic, which is commonly used in healthcare. Figures indicate up to 125,000 pounds have been applied on US crops in a annual period.
Agricultural Sector Lobbying and Regulatory Action
The legal appeal coincides with the Environmental Protection Agency experiences urging to expand the application of medical antimicrobials. The citrus plant illness, spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting orange groves in the state of Florida.
“I appreciate their desperation because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a public health perspective this is absolutely a clear decision – it cannot happen,” Donley stated. “The key point is the enormous problems caused by spraying human medicine on edible plants far outweigh the farming challenges.”
Other Approaches and Future Prospects
Experts recommend basic agricultural measures that should be tried before antibiotics, such as wider crop placement, developing more disease-resistant types of produce and locating diseased trees and quickly removing them to stop the diseases from transmitting.
The petition allows the Environmental Protection Agency about half a decade to answer. In the past, the organization banned a pesticide in answer to a parallel legal petition, but a judge overturned the agency's prohibition.
The organization can enact a ban, or must give a justification why it will not. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a future administration, declines to take action, then the organizations can sue. The legal battle could last many years.
“We are pursuing the prolonged effort,” the expert concluded.