Trump Administration EPA Approves Use of Toxic Pesticide and Medically Important Antibiotic on Citrus Fruits

发布于2022年8月31日

事情发生的经过: 2021年1月, officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 批准 the usage of a hazardous pesticide, 涕灭威, 也是医学上重要的抗生素, 链霉素, on citrus plants despite scientific evidence demonstrating that both substances pose serious threats to public health and the environment.

为什么重要: EPA officials ignored science-based evidence and toxicology risk assessments that show both 涕灭威 and 链霉素 are hazardous to human health. 通过批准在柑橘类水果上使用涕灭威, the EPA went against its own 2010 decision to ban registration of this pesticide 关于柑橘类水果 due to its classification as an extremely hazardous insecticide for both the environment and people, 尤其是农业工人. 通过批准在柑橘类水果上使用抗生素链霉素, 环境保护局提高了人类抗生素耐药性的潜在风险. 通过忽视617888九五至尊娱乐, the EPA violated the laws and protocols that help protect the health and safety of the public and environment.


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to follow the best available science during its decision-making process when they 批准 剧毒杀虫剂的使用, 涕灭威, 也是医学上重要的抗生素, 链霉素, 关于柑橘类水果. The body of evidence on these chemicals suggests that 涕灭威 exposure is associated with severe gastrointestinal and neurotoxic effects, and overuse of 链霉素 can result in increased risks of antibiotic resistance, when bacteria develops the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them, 在人类中—— 日益严重的公共卫生危机 农业普遍过度使用抗生素加剧了这种情况.

涕灭威 is an insecticide that is applied to soil and taken up by the roots of citrus plants. 世界卫生组织(世卫组织)有 分类 它具有最高的急性毒性等级,被认为是“极其危险的”.” 涕灭威 is responsible for the worst known outbreak of pesticide poisoning in North America, 其中除以2,000人在食用后中毒 加州西瓜, with symptoms including nausea, muscle twitches, seizures, and cardiac arrythmia. In 2010年8月, the EPA decided that 涕灭威 no longer met the agency’s food safety regulation standards based on its toxicological risk assessments and made the decision to ban use of 涕灭威, 声明它“可能会带来不可接受的饮食风险”, 尤其是婴幼儿.“最近的研究也显示了涕灭威对生态的危害 data collected by EPA scientists showing a single granule of 涕灭威 was enough to kill a bird or mammal, 除了对蜜蜂的潜在威胁. 环境保护署也认为情况严重 对农场工人的风险 due to long-term exposure from this hazardous pesticide, collectively violating the 联邦杀虫剂、杀菌剂和灭鼠剂法案 (FIFRA) which prohibits the registration of pesticides that generally pose unreasonable risks to people, 包括农业工人, 或者环境.

2021年1月, the EPA reversed the 2010 decision and 批准 the expanded registration of 涕灭威 and 链霉素 to address the spread of citrus greening, 侵袭性植物病害. EPA’s statement claims that the chemicals “present no risks of concern, including to young children.新的登记将允许种植数千英亩的柑橘作物, 包括橙子和葡萄柚, 每个季节在佛罗里达接受治疗. 美国环境保护署 新闻稿 宣布这些新的注册将持续到2028年1月.

的批准 链霉素, 抗生素用于治疗细菌感染的抗生素, would allow the largest-ever use of a medically important antibiotic in US plant agriculture, 超过65万英镑在美国50多万英亩的柑橘林中使用. 联邦617888九五至尊娱乐家 along with US lawmakers and public health and environmental advocacy groups have all 表达了担忧 over antibiotic use on citrus crops as residual 链霉素 can end up in soil and nearby waterways and lead to the rise of 链霉素-resistant bacteria strains, 导致人类对抗生素产生耐药性. 根据疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)在他们的 2019年抗生素耐药性威胁报告,多于2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, 超过35个,000人因此死亡, demonstrating the risk to public health greatly outweighs the benefits of its use. 也, the weight of scientific evidence suggests that treating citrus greening with antibiotics is ineffective. 美国环境保护署 批准 2016年土霉素和链霉素的使用情况 发现 that the treatment temporarily delayed the greening disease for a few months, 但它并没有阻止疾病,只是延长了问题.

美国环境保护署 refused to incorporate the best available science and regulate harmful and toxic substances, 危及全国人民. The agency not only prioritized the concerns of the citrus industry over concerns for human health and environmental impacts, 但却忽视了国会的授权 责任 保护人们免受环境危害.