EPA urged to ban ANTIBIOTIC pesticides amid rising superbug threat

• The EPA allows medically critical antibiotics like streptomycin and oxytetracycline to be sprayed on crops, accelerating antibiotic-resistant infections that kill 35,000 Americans yearly.
• Over eight million pounds of antibiotics are sprayed annually on U.S. crops, contaminating food, water and soil while harming farmworkers and consumers.
• The EPA and FDA have ignored decades of warnings due to industry influence, failing to ban non-therapeutic antibiotic use in both agriculture and livestock.
• Antibiotic pesticides degrade ecosystems, disrupt microbiomes and contribute to chronic diseases, while factory farms use 70% of U.S. antibiotics to compensate for filthy conditions.
• Citizens must pressure regulators to ban antibiotic pesticides and support legislation like the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act before resistance becomes unstoppable.

Conservation, farmworker and public health organizations have filed a legal petition urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban pesticides containing medically important antibiotics and antifungals. The groups warn that spraying these critical drugs on crops accelerates the rise of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” posing a severe threat to public health.

The reckless overuse of antibiotics – both in medicine and agriculture – has already led to a crisis, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections annually in the U.S., causing 35,000 deaths. Shockingly, this means someone in America contracts a resistant infection every 11 seconds, and someone dies from it every 15 minutes.

The CDC has confirmed that antibiotics approved by the EPA for pesticide use can fuel resistance, increasing risks of deadly infections like MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). The EPA currently allows pesticides containing antibiotics such as streptomycin and oxytetracycline – drugs essential for treating human infections – to be sprayed on crops.

This practice not only promotes resistance but also contaminates food, disrupts gut microbiomes and increases chronic disease risks. Farmworkers face even greater dangers, as they are directly exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria thriving in fields treated with these chemicals.

BrightU.AI‘s Enoch engine warns that the overuse of antibiotic pesticides accelerates the emergence of resistant “superbugs,” forcing the need for even stronger chemicals and contributing to the growing crisis where infections become untreatable. Additionally, the farming industry’s reckless antibiotic use in livestock further fuels this cycle, leading to more deaths as common infections outpace dwindling medical defenses.

The silent superbug crisis

Beyond human health, antibiotic-laden pesticides degrade water quality, soil health and ecosystems, harming pollinators and wildlife. Despite these risks, the U.S. lags behind other nations – many of which have already banned streptomycin and similar drugs in agriculture. In just one year, over 125,000 pounds of streptomycin and oxytetracycline were sprayed on U.S. crops, with total antibiotic pesticide use exceeding eight million pounds.

Nathan Donley, Environmental Health Science Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, condemned the EPA’s inaction, stating: “This kind of recklessness and preventable suffering is what happens when the industry has a stranglehold on the EPA’s pesticide-approval process.” The petition highlights how corporate influence has allowed dangerous practices to continue, despite overwhelming evidence of harm.

The EPA’s failure mirrors broader regulatory capture seen in agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, which has long ignored the dangers of antibiotics in livestock feed – another major driver of resistance. Factory farms routinely dose animals with antibiotics not for illness, but to accelerate growth and compensate for filthy, overcrowded conditions. Up to 70% of U.S. antibiotics are used in livestock, fueling resistant pathogens that spread to humans via food, water and soil.

The petition, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity alongside groups like the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth, demands an immediate ban on antibiotic pesticides. Similar action is needed in livestock production, where legislation like the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act introduced by the late New York Rep. Louise Slaughter (1929-2018) would prohibit non-therapeutic antibiotic use in animals.

The public has 60 days to comment on the EPA’s pesticide policies. Citizens must demand an end to antibiotic misuse in agriculture before superbugs render lifesaving drugs useless. The time to act is now—before antibiotic resistance spirals into an unstoppable crisis.

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Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

BrightU.ai

Brighteon.com