The American Public Health Association,
Noting that integrated pest management is a combination of educational, cultural, biological, physical, chemical, and legal measures to control pests and that the application of pesticides is reduced by the use of pest parasites, pathogens, pheromones, predators, and resistant crops, thus reducing the unnecessary exposure of humans to harmful chemicals; and
Observing that numerous arthropods and rodents serve as the vector of serious human diseases such as viral encephalitis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Hantavirus, and malaria;1 and
Noting that hazard surveillance (monitoring environmental conditions to identify conditions that may contribute to the emergence or re-emergence of vectors), disease health surveillance, laboratory identification, vector management and medical intervention continue to be important factors in preventing morbidity and mortality from vector-borne disease;2 and
Recognizing that recent experience with West Nile encephalitis and Hantavirus indicate that efforts to combat vector-borne diseases are becoming more complex and difficult to manage and can have transnational implications;3,4 and
Noting that public health agencies in health and environmental departments in state and local government have primary responsibility for management of vectors;5 and
Noting that the capacity of local and state health and environmental agencies to conduct basic functions such as hazard surveillance for the purpose of early identification of vector borne outbreaks has been seriously eroded or eliminated over the past several decades; and
Recognizing that integrated vector management that seeks to minimize unnecessary health and environmental side effects of vector control activities while assuring maximum protection to the public and workers is a long-standing and well established public health principle and practice;6,7 and
Noting that in the U.S. in 1996 under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) the Congress mandated that the Department of Health and Human Services assess vector control needs as part of Environment Protection Agency’s review of pesticides, including insecticides and rodenticides; furthermore, the FQPA allows for public health benefits to be considered in weighing the risks of public health pesticides as part of EPA’s regulatory process;8 and
Recognizing that in the U.S., despite the 1996 mandate of the FQPA, the DHHS has no evident activities in this area, leaving state and local vector control agencies with great uncertainty about what tools will be available to them for managing public health vectors; and
Noting that while pesticides can and do play an important public health role, the use of IVM (integrated vector management) can decrease the problems associated with pesticides and difficulty controlling disease outbreaks;9 and
Observing that the public has become more concerned about any use of a pesticide in populated areas even when the intended use is for public health vector control;10 and
Recognizing that the public health use of pesticides constitutes only a very small fraction of the total pesticides manufactured and used in the US and further recognizing that some pesticides used for public health vector control may become unavailable due to actions taken to protect public health by reducing the uses of some highly toxic pesticides in agriculture, homes, and other commercial markets;11 and
Noting that debates over the use of pesticides for public health vector control have sometimes divided the public health and environmental communities at the local, state, national and international levels at a time when maximizing public health and environmental protection requires close coordination and mutual trust between those communities, therefore, encourages and supports
- Efforts to expand the use of integrated vector management techniques and to minimize the unnecessary use of toxic pesticides in vector control while maximizing public health protection from vector-borne diseases;
- Aggressive environmental and disease surveillance and early identification of conditions that promote the growth or introduction of vectors, as well as vector borne disease outbreaks, to prevent morbidity and mortality and to ensure that outbreaks can be controlled when they are small, thus minimizing the potential need for pesticides;
- Increased federal funding to CDC to help support the efforts by the CDC, states and local government to strengthen efforts in laboratory identification, vector management, and nationwide surveillance of vectors and vector-borne disease with the goal of an integrated surveillance effort;
- Efforts by and the provision of resources to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish the needed capability to carry out toxicology and vector management assessments of pest control agents as required by the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, such efforts including evaluation of non-pesticide alternative means of vector control;
- Promotion and funding by federal, state and local public health and environmental health agencies of the use of integrated vector management techniques to control public health pests;
- Funding to state and local governments for larvicides and other preventive measures should be available to state and local health departments along with resources and the ability to act quickly when necessary;
- Efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in coordination with state and local agencies, involvement of stakeholders in decision making, risk communication and education to bring the public, states and others together to address this issue;
- Efforts by HUD and state and local agencies to assure healthier home environments through appropriate prevention and management of vectors;
- Increased health communication and education efforts regarding risks, concepts of integrated vector management, personal protection actions, and individual efforts that can decrease transmission through outreach and advocacy programs for the general population and populations at risk; and
- International efforts by the World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Program, Food and Agriculture Organization and the US government, in support of the treaty negotiations on Persistent Organic Pollutants and other efforts to reduce pesticide risks internationally, to rapidly identify effective methods of vector control that do not rely on highly hazardous pesticides while recognizing the current important public health role of pesticides.
References
- Gubler DJ. Resurgent vector-borne diseases as a global health problem. Emerg Infect Dis. 1998;4:442-450.
- Preventing emerging infectious diseases: A strategy for the 21st century. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, 1998.
- Epidemic/epizootic west Nile virus in the United States: Guidelines for surveillance, prevention, and control. Fort Collins, CO: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000.
- Schmaljohn C, Hjelle B. Hantavirus: A global disease problem. Emerg Infect Dis. 1997;3:95-104
- The Future of Public Health. Washington DC: Institute of Medicine, 1988.
- Pest management practices: 1998 summary. Washington DC: US Department of Agriculture, 1999.
- Introduction to Integrated Pest Management for Urban Landscapes. IPM Associates, Inc., 1996.
- Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. Public Law 104-170. 110 Stat. 1489. August 3,1996.
- Brogdon WG, McAllister JC. Insecticide resistance and vector control. Emerg Infect Dis. 1998;4:605-613.
- Gratz NG, Jany WC. What role for insecticides in vector control programs? Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1994;50:11-20.
- United Nations Environmental Program, Persistent Organic Pollutants Committee. Report of the intergovernmental negotiating committee for an international legally binding instrument for implementing international action on certain persistent organic pollutants on the work of its third session. September. 6-11, 1999, Geneva: United Nations, 1999.
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