PhD graduand Paola Gabriela Viglietti has published an opinion piece in the Mail & Guardian examining the future of pesticide regulation in South Africa.

In “As Europe Retreats on Pesticides, South Africa Has a Choice,” Paola draws on themes from her PhD research on pesticide exposure and child neurodevelopment, as well as discussions from the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology conference in Munich and the World Congress on Public Health in Cape Town.

The op-ed considers the implications of changes to pesticide regulation in Europe and the opportunity for South Africa to develop a regulatory framework suited to its own public health, environmental and agricultural context. Paola highlights the importance of locally relevant evidence, meaningful community participation and ensuring that research informs policy processes.

Her PhD research found an association between greater chronic pesticide exposure and poorer performance on measures of attention, planning and problem-solving in children. Her recent systematic review also highlighted the limited representation of sub-Saharan African populations in research on chronic postnatal pesticide exposure and child neurodevelopment.

In the op-ed, Paola argues that South Africa's current policy moment provides an opportunity to strengthen pesticide governance while considering the health of people and ecosystems alongside agricultural productivity.

Read Paola’s full op-ed in the Mail & Guardian: As Europe Retreats on Pesticides, South Africa Has a Choice.