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A fresh regulatory appeal from multiple health advocacy and farm worker organizations is calling for the US environmental regulator to stop allowing the application of antimicrobial agents on edible plants across the US, citing superbug spread and illnesses to farm laborers.

Agricultural Sector Sprays Millions of Pounds of Antimicrobial Crop Treatments

The crop production applies about 8 million pounds of antimicrobial and fungicidal pesticides on American food crops every year, with several of these agents prohibited in international markets.

“Each year Americans are at increased danger from harmful microbes and diseases because medical antibiotics are applied on crops,” commented Nathan Donley.

Antibiotic Resistance Poses Major Health Dangers

The excessive use of antibiotics, which are critical for treating human disease, as agricultural chemicals on fruits and vegetables threatens population health because it can result in drug-resistant microbes. In the same way, excessive application of antifungal pesticides can create fungal infections that are harder to treat with currently available pharmaceuticals.

• Drug-resistant infections sicken about 2.8 million Americans and cause about 35,000 mortalities annually.
• Regulatory bodies have connected “clinically significant antibiotics” permitted for crop application to treatment failure, higher likelihood of pathogenic diseases and higher probability of antibiotic-resistant staph.

Environmental and Health Effects

Meanwhile, ingesting chemical remnants on crops can disrupt the human gut microbiome and elevate the likelihood of chronic diseases. These agents also contaminate aquatic systems, and are believed to harm bees. Frequently low-income and Hispanic farm workers are most exposed.

Common Agricultural Antimicrobials and Industry Methods

Growers spray antimicrobials because they eliminate pathogens that can ruin or kill plants. One of the most frequently used antibiotic pesticides is a medical drug, which is often used in healthcare. Estimates indicate approximately 125k lbs have been used on US crops in a single year.

Agricultural Sector Lobbying and Government Response

The formal request is filed as the regulator encounters demands to increase the use of human antibiotics. The crop infection, spread by the insect pest, is devastating citrus orchards in Florida.

“I understand their desperation because they’re in serious trouble, but from a broader point of view this is definitely a no-brainer – it cannot happen,” the expert said. “The fundamental issue is the enormous problems generated by spraying medical drugs on produce far outweigh the farming challenges.”

Other Methods and Future Prospects

Advocates recommend basic farming measures that should be implemented before antibiotics, such as planting crops further apart, developing more disease-resistant strains of produce and detecting infected plants and quickly removing them to stop the pathogens from spreading.

The petition provides the Environmental Protection Agency about half a decade to respond. Several years ago, the regulator banned a chemical in answer to a comparable formal request, but a judge reversed the EPA’s ban.

The agency can implement a ban, or must give a justification why it will not. If the regulator, or a future administration, declines to take action, then the organizations can file a lawsuit. The procedure could last many years.

“We’re playing the extended strategy,” Donley concluded.