The Trump administration has approved the maximum level of the antibiotic oxytetracycline allowed in citrus fruits. The Environmental Protection Agency's decision therefore opens the door to widespread use of the drug in California, Florida and other states on crops such as grapefruit, oranges and mandarins.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous
An antibiotic-flavored citrus juice. The Trump administration has approved the maximum level of the antibiotic oxytetracycline allowed in citrus fruits. The Environmental Protection Agency's decision therefore opens the door to widespread use of the drug in California, Florida and other states on crops such as grapefruits, oranges, lemons and tangerines.
Green light for this type of treatment on almost half a million hectares of citrus fruit. Once again, Trump ignores the scientific world about the possible repercussions on human health or endangered wildlife. Oxytetracycline is an antibiotic that has broad-spectrum antibacterial activity in fighting some respiratory infections such as pneumonia.
“This short-term agricultural solution is a horrifying precedent that ignores the dangerous long-term consequences of the excessive use of these antibiotics. The more we use these medicines in agriculture, the more likely it is that antibiotics will lose their effectiveness when people get desperately sick, "he explains. Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Trump administration would adopt this measure against citrus fruit sickness, which is a fungus that usually attacks lemons, cedars and bergamots, without however thinking that these substances could increase the problem of antibiotic resistance.
The point, however, is that to date it is not said that spraying these antibiotics on the leaves could really save them from dryness, so there is a lot of concern from the scientists of the Federal Agency for the protection of the environment of the United States, above all because an EPA analysis had already revealed 'an uncertainty regarding the potential for the development of resistance or cross-resistance with other antibiotics ”.
These antibiotics are already used in agriculture, but to a very limited extent, certainly not at the maximum levels, we remind you that we are talking about the United States, because in the European Union the use of oxytetracycline and streptomycin for use as pesticides on agricultural plants.
“These antibiotics are used more on fruit trees than to treat diseases in humans. Citrus disease is a serious problem, but the use of important antibiotics with limited effectiveness is not the solution, ”he continues Donley.
Antibiotics like oxytetracycline and streptomycin have transformed human and veterinary medicine, making once deadly infections and diseases treatable. For more than 10 years, the World Health Organization has recognized these drugs as "very important," but the abuse and overuse of antibiotics has led to the spread of resistant bacteria, sparking international concern.
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Dominella Trunfio
