Setting International Standards for the Management of Public Health Pesticides

Pesticide use has been the mainstay control of disease vectors and pests of importance to public health [1–3]. However, three recent developments have raised concern over how pesticides used for public health (which include vector-control pesticides, household insecticides, and professional pest-management pesticides [4]), are being regulated, managed, and monitored in affected countries. Disturbing reports on the urban trade in substandard, poorly labelled, and highly toxic pesticide products, coined “street pesticides,” are probably the tip of the iceberg of unregulated products that are currently available to the public in developing countries for household use, as the problem is likely to be widespread [5,6]. Summary Points