PETITION TO THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYTO CANCEL THE REGISTRATION OF PESTICIDES THAT CAN PROMOTERESISTANCE TO MEDICALLY IMPORTANT ANTIBIOTICS AND ANTIFUNGALS

The petition urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately cancel all pesticide registrations that use medically important antibiotics and antifungals—such as streptomycin, oxytetracycline, gentamicin, kasugamycin, triazole fungicides, and ipflufenoquin—on the grounds that their agricultural use accelerates antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and poses unacceptable risks to human health, wildlife, and the environment. It argues that applying these drugs to crops contributes to the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria and fungi, disrupts microbiomes (including those of pollinators), and lacks sufficient scientific justification under FIFRA’s requirement to avoid “unreasonable adverse effects.” The petition therefore demands cancellation or, at minimum, suspension of these products to protect the effectiveness of critical antimicrobials needed in human and veterinary medicine.