Abstract
The progress of the health of human populations in the 20th century is largely due to development and the marketing of biocides (drugs and pesticides). Biocides limit the proliferation of unwanted organisms (viruses, bacteria, protozoa or metazoa) or even cells (as in cancer). They include anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, anti-cancer compounds, as well as pesticides (insecticides and herbicides, for example). The efficiency of a large number of biocides is now compromised by the emergence of resistance phenomena, i. e. the capacity of the target organisms to survive in the presence of normally lethal concentrations of biocide. Knowing that crop pests are responsible for more than 30% of the loss of agricultural production, that infectious diseases are responsible for a third of the annual global mortality, and that more than 95% of failures to anti-cancer treatments are attributed to resistance, it is clear that resistance to biocides are an important concern in public health and agronomy. One of the challenges of the future is to avoid or limit the negative impact of resistance. Here we briefly describe (1) the context of resistance phenomena (origin of resistance: an adaptive process; nature of resistance genes; selection pressures and fitness; evolution of resistance and unknown factors; strategies to control resistance), (2) the scientific dynamics, and (3) the scientific perspectives and priorities (understanding of mechanisms and dynamics of resistance; development of new biocides; society and resistance)