US: Legal arguments begin in case challenging EPA’s decision to authorize medically important antibiotic as citrus pesticide

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument last Monday challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the medically important antibiotic streptomycin as a pesticide on citrus crops.

The lawsuit, brought by farmworker and public-interest groups, argues that the use of streptomycin on citrus crops is unlawful under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Streptomycin is used to treat serious illnesses ranging from tuberculosis to urinary tract infections. The misuse of medically important antibiotics has contributed to increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria — a pressing public-health crisis causing over 35,000 deaths each year in the United States.

The widespread uses of streptomycin can also have harmful, long-term effects on endangered species like Florida panthers and San Joaquin kit foxes, who use habitat in and around treated fields, as well as bee and butterfly pollinators who are already suffering serious declines.

Despite evidence showing that spraying streptomycin on citrus trees to combat citrus greening disease is highly ineffective, more than 650,000 pounds of the antibiotic are expected to be used on citrus crops in Florida and California alone. By contrast, the United States currently uses about 14,000 pounds of aminoglycosides, the antibiotic class that includes streptomycin, for medical purposes annually.

Petitioners in the case include NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and U.S. PIRG, represented by NRDC; Beyond Pesticides, Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida (ECOSWF), Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworker Justice, and Migrant Clinicians Network, represented by Earthjustice; and the Center for Biological Diversity, represented by in-house counsel.

″The use of streptomycin as a pesticide continues to be an ongoing threat to the health and safety of our farmworkers, who are at the frontlines of feeding our nation,″ said Jeanie Economos, coordinator of the Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Program for the Farmworker Association of Florida. ″We’re urging swift resolution of this case and an end to the misuse of medically important antibiotics within our food systems. Every day of delay means more farmworkers are exposed, putting themselves and their families at risk.″

″Medically important antibiotics should be reserved for a doctor’s toolkit, not agricultural fields,″ said Allison Johnson, a senior attorney in the Health & Food program at NRDC. ″Misuse and overuse of these precious medicines are known to exacerbate the growing health threat posed by antibiotic-resistant infections. There are safer alternatives for addressing pest pressures in food production — including organic farming — that don’t sacrifice our health or the planet’s.″

″We hope the 9th Circuit acts quickly to protect farmworkers and endangered wildlife by stopping the EPA’s egregious misuse of this medically crucial antibiotic,″ said Hannah Connor, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. ″Continuing to risk the ability of this critical drug to stop people from dying, just to use it as an ineffective, stop-gap measure against citrus greening, is dangerous and shortsighted.″

″Imagine living in a world where common infections once again kill. That’s the reality we face without swift action to stop antibiotic overuse in any setting,″ said Matthew Wellington, public health campaigns director at PIRG. ″Spraying a medically important antibiotic on citrus crops is an absurd use of our lifesaving medicines that we can’t afford to ignore.″

″In a pandemic era and an age of antibiotic overuse, we cannot afford to risk further public health crises from antibiotic resistance,″ said Carrie Apfel, senior attorney in the Sustainable Food and Farming Program at Earthjustice. ″The use of streptomycin as a pesticide needlessly and dangerously exposes farmworkers, communities, and the environment to an increased, unacceptable, and unlawful risk of harm, and should immediately cease.″