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A recent legal petition from a dozen public health and farm worker groups is calling for the EPA to cease permitting the use of antimicrobial agents on food crops across the United States, citing antibiotic-resistant spread and illnesses to agricultural workers.

Farming Sector Applies Substantial Amounts of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The farming industry uses around 8 million pounds of antimicrobial and fungicidal chemicals on American food crops annually, with several of these substances prohibited in international markets.

“Each year Americans are at greater danger from toxic microbes and illnesses because medical antibiotics are applied on crops,” commented a public health advocate.

Antibiotic Resistance Poses Significant Public Health Threats

The widespread application of antibiotics, which are essential for addressing medical conditions, as crop treatments on crops threatens community well-being because it can result in superbug bacteria. Likewise, excessive application of antifungal agent pesticides can lead to mycoses that are less treatable with existing medicines.

• Antibiotic-resistant infections sicken about 2.8 million individuals and result in about 35,000 fatalities each year.
• Regulatory bodies have connected “medically important antibiotics” authorized for crop application to treatment failure, greater chance of bacterial illnesses and elevated threat of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Environmental and Health Consequences

Furthermore, consuming drug traces on produce can disrupt the human gut microbiome and increase the chance of long-term illnesses. These substances also pollute water sources, and are considered to affect bees. Often poor and Latino farm workers are most at risk.

Common Agricultural Antimicrobials and Agricultural Practices

Growers use antibiotics because they destroy microbes that can ruin or kill plants. One of the popular antimicrobial treatments is a medical drug, which is often used in medical care. Estimates indicate approximately 125,000 pounds have been used on domestic plants in a annual period.

Citrus Industry Lobbying and Government Response

The petition coincides with the EPA encounters pressure to increase the use of human antibiotics. The crop infection, spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, is severely affecting orange groves in the state of Florida.

“I recognize their critical situation because they’re in difficult circumstances, but from a public health point of view this is definitely a clear decision – it cannot happen,” the expert said. “The fundamental issue is the enormous problems caused by applying human medicine on edible plants far outweigh the crop issues.”

Other Methods and Future Outlook

Experts propose simple crop management steps that should be tried first, such as increasing plant spacing, cultivating more robust strains of crops and detecting sick crops and rapidly extracting them to stop the infections from spreading.

The petition allows the regulator about five years to respond. Previously, the agency prohibited a chemical in response to a parallel regulatory appeal, but a court overturned the agency's prohibition.

The organization can implement a prohibition, or has to give a reason why it refuses to. If the EPA, or a subsequent government, fails to respond, then the groups can sue. The procedure could require many years.

“We are engaged in the prolonged effort,” the advocate concluded.