EPA urged to ban spraying of antibiotics on US food crops amid resistance fears | Pesticides
a new legal petition A petition filed by a dozen public health and farmworker groups demands that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stop allowing farms to spray antibiotics on U.S. food crops because they are likely causing superbugs to proliferate and make farmworkers sick.
The agriculture industry sprays nearly 8 million pounds of antibiotics and antifungal pesticides on food crops in the United States each year, many of which are banned in other countries.
The overuse of antibiotics needed to treat human diseases and pesticides in fruits and vegetables threatens public health as they can lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of superbugs. Similarly, overuse of antifungal pesticides can lead to fungal infections that are less treatable with existing medical drugs, the groups say.
“Every year, Americans are at greater risk from dangerous bacteria and diseases as human pesticides are sprayed on crops,” said Nathan Donley, director of environmental health science at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This kind of recklessness and avoidable suffering is what happens when industry puts pressure on the EPA’s pesticide approval process.”
Antibiotic-resistant infections sicken about 2.8 million people annually and cause about 35,000 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. predictions. The CDC has linked “medically important antibiotics” for which the EPA has approved pesticide use on crops to antibiotic resistance in bacteria, an increased risk of staph infection, and an increased risk of MRSA.
Documents A 2017 CDC study obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity through a Freedom of Information Act request raises concerns about the risks of expanded use of antibiotics in citrus crops.
“The use of antibiotics as pesticides has the potential to select for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria present in the environment,” the agency wrote.
Meanwhile, consuming antibiotic residues in food may also disrupt the human gut microbiome and increase the risk of chronic diseases. These substances also contaminate drinking water supplies and are thought to harm pollinators. Farm workers who are generally low-income and Latino are most at risk.
Farms spray antibiotics because they kill bacteria that could damage or kill crops.
One of the most common antibiotic pesticides is streptomycin, which is widely used in medical care. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that up to 125,000 pounds of pesticides are sprayed on U.S. crops in a year.
The petition comes at a time when the EPA faces pressure to expand the use of human antibiotics, Donley said. Bacterial citrus greening disease, transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, is devastating citrus groves in Florida.
Donley acknowledged the citrus industry was facing an “incredibly scary” situation, but said pumping more medically important antibiotics into crops would be a bigger disaster in the long run.
“I understand their desperation because they are in such a difficult situation, but from a social standpoint, this is an absolutely simple thing that can’t happen,” Donley said. “As a result, the huge problems created by spraying human pesticides on food crops far outweigh the agricultural problems.”
Donley said there are simple crop management steps to try first, such as planting crops farther apart, growing more disease-resistant crop varieties, identifying diseased trees and removing them quickly to prevent the spread of diseases.
The petition gives the EPA approximately five years to respond. A few years ago, the agency banned chloropyrifos in response to a similar legal petition, but a judge overturned the EPA’s ban.
The agency may impose a ban or must state a reason for not doing so. The EPA under the Trump administration is unlikely to take action, Donley said. If that or a future administration doesn’t act, the groups could sue. The process can take more than ten years.
“We’re playing the long game,” Donley said.
