@article{7ac069a5046541f989bd4ed0ec2519f7,
title = "Developing an international consensus on DDT: A balance of environmental protection and disease control",
abstract = "The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants provides a framework for international action on 12 persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals of global concern. While production and use of most of the listed chemicals will shortly be eliminated, there is widespread agreement that DDT will continue to be needed for disease vector control. Science played a key role in informing policy makers from developed and developing countries who drafted the DDT provision of the convention. This paper examines both the science and the politics that contributed to an international consensus on DDT.",
keywords = "DDT, Malaria, Persistent organic pollutants, Stockholm Convention, Vector control",
author = "Walker, {Kathleen R.} and Ricciardoneb, {Marie D.} and Janice Jensen",
note = "Funding Information: In the interest of facilitating negotiations and to avoid unproductive tensions between public health and environmental interests, the United States negotiators decided to take advantage of relevant expertise within its large delegation to address the DDT issue and craft preliminary treaty language. The United States formed an interagency group chaired by the Department of Health and Human Services through the Office of International and Refugee Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Workgroup members included malaria researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health; technical staff from the Environmental Protection Agency; the head of the Armed Forces Pest Management Board of the Department of Defense; public health experts from the U.S. Agency for International Development; experienced treaty negotiators in the State Department (the lead agency for the U.S. delegation to the Global POPs negotiations) and representatives of other interested agencies. The group collected and assessed data on the current importance and efficacy of DDT in controlling malaria vectors around the world; the human health risks associated with DDT; the availability, effec- tiveness, and affordability of DDT alternatives; and the kinds of technical and financial assistance that countries would need to improve their national malaria control programs so that they could reduce their reliance on DDT without jeopardizing public health. Recognizing the critical importance of stakeholder participation, the United States also consulted with countries using DDT, interested environmental and public health NGOs and the World Health Organization to reach consensus on the details of the DDT obligation.",
year = "2003",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1078/1438-4639-00239",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "206",
pages = "423--435",
journal = "International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health",
issn = "1438-4639",
publisher = "Elsevier GmbH",
number = "4-5",
}