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A recent formal request from twelve public health and agricultural labor coalitions is urging the US environmental regulator to stop permitting the use of antimicrobial agents on produce across the US, pointing to superbug proliferation and illnesses to farm laborers.

Agricultural Sector Sprays Large Quantities of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The crop production uses around 8m lbs of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on US food crops each year, with a number of these substances prohibited in other nations.

“Each year US citizens are at greater risk from toxic pathogens and diseases because human medicines are used on plants,” commented an environmental health director.

Antibiotic Resistance Presents Major Public Health Threats

The widespread application of antibiotics, which are critical for treating infections, as agricultural chemicals on fruits and vegetables endangers population health because it can lead to drug-resistant microbes. Likewise, excessive application of antifungal agent treatments can cause fungal infections that are harder to treat with currently available pharmaceuticals.

• Antibiotic-resistant infections affect about 2.8m Americans and lead to about 35,000 fatalities each year.
• Public health organizations have connected “therapeutically critical antimicrobials” authorized for agricultural spraying to treatment failure, greater chance of bacterial illnesses and increased risk of MRSA.

Ecological and Health Consequences

Furthermore, ingesting chemical remnants on produce can disturb the digestive system and increase the risk of persistent conditions. These agents also taint aquatic systems, and are believed to affect insects. Often low-income and Latino agricultural laborers are most at risk.

Common Agricultural Antimicrobials and Industry Methods

Agricultural operations spray antimicrobials because they kill pathogens that can damage or wipe out crops. Among the most common antibiotic pesticides is a medical drug, which is frequently used in healthcare. Estimates indicate approximately 125k lbs have been used on American produce in a single year.

Agricultural Sector Influence and Regulatory Response

The petition coincides with the Environmental Protection Agency faces demands to expand the use of medical antimicrobials. The crop infection, transmitted by the insect pest, is destroying citrus orchards in the state of Florida.

“I appreciate their urgent need because they’re in serious trouble, but from a public health point of view this is certainly a no-brainer – it should not be allowed,” the advocate stated. “The fundamental issue is the enormous problems caused by applying medical drugs on edible plants greatly exceed the farming challenges.”

Alternative Approaches and Future Prospects

Advocates propose simple crop management actions that should be tested before antibiotics, such as planting crops further apart, developing more hardy varieties of produce and detecting diseased trees and promptly eliminating them to prevent the diseases from transmitting.

The petition gives the regulator about five years to act. Previously, the agency prohibited chloropyrifos in answer to a parallel legal petition, but a court blocked the agency's prohibition.

The agency can impose a prohibition, or has to give a justification why it won’t. If the Environmental Protection Agency, or a later leadership, fails to respond, then the organizations can file a lawsuit. The legal battle could require more than a decade.

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