Florida panther cats are crippled and we are next
And if the spray *did* penetrate the waxy leaves, would that again mean excessively high levels in the fruit? Is it possible to inject a lower concentration or at a different time in the season and still be effective?
Hope the research on other antibiotic use is also being done to conserve their effectiveness in people.
This article caught my attention for the reason being that this is a huge issue in America. Mass spraying of pesticides and antibiotics deforms the plants that they are sprayed on. Not only does it affect the plants but it also affects the consumer. This can cause health issues within the body such as cancer and growth issues. These issues can become genetic and spread throughout generations of family’s. It’s not easy to eat organic because of the costly difference. I realize that this is more efficient for them to keep plants “fresh” and safe from harmful bugs. Finding another way could be more expensive but it will be worth it in the long run and more healthier to the people who consume these plants.
I know a person with a crop dusting business in Florida. He tells me crops are sprayed at least ten times a year. Oranges are harvested and juiced and the juice of your “fresh” OJ is stored so long that the vitamins deteriorate and must be added before it is packaged for sale. Those “fresh” containers of OJ in the supermarket are anything but fresh. Maybe recently packaged but not fresh.
4
Mass spraying of citrus trees with antibiotics to prevent citrus greening is foolish and will almost certainly select for antibiotic resistant bacteria of all types including the causative agent (Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus). Better control methods should be investigated. Such methods might include the use of bacteriophage (phage therapy) or antagonistic bacteria or parasitic wasps that attack the insect vector. Unfortunately, Ca. L. asiaticus has not been grown in pure culture, as a result it is difficult to investigate methods to attack the bacterium. By the way, the inability to culture this organism means that investigators do not know the actual minimum inhibitory concentration of oxytetracycline for this bacterium. Ultimately, Congress should appropriate funds to the USDA for research grants to investigate this plant disease and the bacterial pathogen that causes it. This is a perfect example of why we want to provide excellent education in the sciences; with excellent microbiologists, plant scientists, geneticists, etc. and funding to allow them to investigate these problems, these diseases can be controlled and overcome.
4
Bacteria are fickle single celled critters. Why not spray the bacteria with a mixture of baking soda and water to disrupt the pH growing range of the bacteria? Not all bacteria can grow in the presence of salt or soap. How about spraying the oranges with a mixture of salt water and or soap?
3
"Researchers found antibiotic residues in fruit that were more than three times higher than are permissible."
Surely that limit should be zero? Residual antibiotics in fruit now? That's unbelievably reckless. Either find a better solution, or accept the fact that the Florida citrus industry is headed for extinction.
6
First line of the EPA’s mission statement: “EPA is returning to its core mission of protecting human health and the environment.” Antibiotics for an ordinary gum graft allowed a drug-resistant bacterium burgeon in my gut; a second bout with the same bacterium left me with a painful and challenging case of reactive arthritis. The idea of using antibiotics in orange trees at three times the acceptable permitted levels seems like folly to me — I can’t afford to be knocked out of ordinary functioning for months because I drank a glass of orange juice, so will likely stop buying it. When our food becomes a hazard to our health perhaps we should be looking for better, more benign-to-humans remedies. And certainly the agency charged with protecting our health should stand firm on those protections.
7
Dad what is science? We are Republicans son... we don’t believe in science.
7
As a physician and farmer of certified organic citrus, it's scary that a greater concentration of oxytetracycline is being contemplated for spraying citrus trees...and that people are buying fruit with antibiotics inside.
If there is a better way to increase antibiotic resistance in people, I don't know of it.
Oxytetracyine and streptomycin have long lists of interactions with other drugs, and streptomycin in particular is an antibiotic of near last resort against enterococci. No one should get these antibiotics without a prescription, never mind with a fruit plate.
Not recounted here are the tiny, non-stinging black wasps (Tamarixia radiata) which are specific to the citrus psyllid that carries the citrus greening disease, and does not harm people.
We must look for more sustainable solutions to work with nature, and against citrus greening, that protect people from harm, as well as protect crops and bees and nature. We can and must do better.
17
I have a variety of citrus trees in my garden. All were afflicted years ago with this disease. We assumed our trees would eventually die. Then one winter, we had an unusual freeze. All the leaves froze and fell off. I trimmed many of the branches in the Spring to stimulate growth. Then a sudden burst of new leaves, blossoms and fruits appeared. One tree alone produced 1500 Meyer lemons. The disease is gone. Absolutely no trace of it for years. My orange trees are at a record crop. Perhaps freezing the trees is an answer. How the growers will do this, I don’t know.
13
@Margaret
Maybe that is why my citrus trees in South Carolina seemed to avoid the greening disease. Every few years we have a frost that causes all the leaves to drop and then the trees put out all new leaves and are totally healthy and produce so much fruit I was constantly giving it away.