Insecticides for tsetse and trypanosomiasis control: is the environmental risk acceptable?

Abstract

Tsetse control technology, as well as the science of environmental impact and risk assessment, has come a long way over the past 20 years. The application of science to tsetse control has significantly reduced impacts on the environment, and the costs of environmental monitoring and assessment have reduced dramatically. Environmental impacts are encountered with all insecticide-based techniques, but they appear to be relatively minor and short-lived. Despite a wealth of ecotoxicological information, conflict between real and imagined risks is hampering decision making. As discussed here by Ian Grant, public confidence in control technologies is being undermined by political viewpoints, fears (often based on misinformation) and poor communication of the environmental issues.