TELL THE EPA TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH AND STOP SPRAYING CITRUS CROPS WITH LIFESAVING ANTIBIOTICS

EPA Administrator Michael Regan:

Antibiotic resistance threatens the very fabric of modern medicine. Without effective antibiotics, common infections could become life-threatening illnesses -- simple surgeries, childbirth, chemotherapy all become more deadly.

If we don't course correct soon, we risk losing 10 million people per year globally to drug-resistant infections by 2050. That is nearly five times the loss of life experienced from the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Given the stakes, we simply cannot allow citrus growers to spray crops with antibiotics considered important to human medicine.

I urge you to reverse the decision to approve the use of streptomycin and oxytetracycline as pesticides on citrus crops.