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A newly filed legal petition from twelve health advocacy and farm worker coalitions is demanding the EPA to stop authorizing the spraying of antimicrobial agents on edible plants across the US, highlighting superbug proliferation and health risks to farm laborers.

Farming Industry Uses Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The farming industry applies around 8m lbs of antimicrobial and fungicidal treatments on American produce annually, with many of these agents prohibited in other nations.

“Each year US citizens are at greater risk from harmful microbes and diseases because human medicines are used on plants,” stated a public health advocate.

Antibiotic Resistance Poses Serious Health Dangers

The overuse of antimicrobial drugs, which are critical for combating human disease, as agricultural chemicals on crops threatens public health because it can lead to superbug bacteria. Likewise, frequent use of antifungal pesticides can cause mycoses that are less treatable with existing medical drugs.

• Drug-resistant illnesses affect about millions of people and result in about thousands of deaths per year.
• Health agencies have connected “medically important antimicrobials” approved for crop application to antibiotic resistance, increased risk of staph infections and higher probability of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Environmental and Public Health Effects

Additionally, consuming antibiotic residues on food can alter the human gut microbiome and increase the risk of long-term illnesses. These agents also taint aquatic systems, and are considered to damage insects. Often economically disadvantaged and Hispanic farm workers are most at risk.

Common Antibiotic Pesticides and Agricultural Practices

Agricultural operations use antibiotics because they eliminate bacteria that can damage or kill crops. One of the popular agricultural drugs is a medical drug, which is commonly used in healthcare. Data indicate as much as significant quantities have been sprayed on American produce in a single year.

Agricultural Sector Pressure and Government Response

The petition comes as the Environmental Protection Agency encounters demands to increase the use of medical antimicrobials. The bacterial citrus greening disease, transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting orange groves in the state of Florida.

“I understand their desperation because they’re in serious trouble, but from a public health point of view this is definitely a obvious choice – it cannot happen,” the advocate commented. “The fundamental issue is the significant challenges generated by spraying pharmaceuticals on produce significantly surpass the crop issues.”

Alternative Solutions and Long-term Prospects

Experts recommend simple farming steps that should be implemented before antibiotics, such as wider crop placement, breeding more robust strains of plants and locating diseased trees and promptly eliminating them to prevent the pathogens from spreading.

The legal appeal gives the EPA about five years to answer. Several years ago, the regulator banned chloropyrifos in answer to a similar legal petition, but a court overturned the agency's prohibition.

The organization can impose a prohibition, or is required to give a reason why it won’t. If the EPA, or a subsequent government, fails to respond, then the organizations can file a lawsuit. The process could last over ten years.

“We are pursuing the extended strategy,” the advocate stated.