Some of history’s greatest advances in public health – especially in regions plagued by insect borne diseases – have come from the judicious use of pesticides to kill or repel the insect vector before it can infect human populations. Because the market for public health pesticides is relatively small, however, most of these vital chemistries were developed for larger agricultural uses. Unfortunately, that source of new products is increasingly under threat from shortsighted environmentalism and the European embrace of “precautionary” regulation. As unpleasant as this cold winter is, at least those annoying mosquitoes have disappeared and won’t be back for several months. Not so in many tropical countries, where mosquitoes are far more deadly than in the US, transmitting crippling and often fatal diseases such as malaria and dengue. Read more.