U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., in tandem with a bipartisan group of other U.S. senators, is calling on the international community to shut down live wildlife markets.
The open-air markets, referred to as wet markets, are believed to have been the crucible for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China.
“Global action is needed to prevent future deadly pandemics,” the lawmakers said in a release. “It is imperative that we take action as a global community to protect public health.”
The lawmakers sent their thoughts to the Directors-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), saying wet markets provide a unique situation where viruses are able to jump from various species of live and dead animals, then be transferred to humans.
“The viruses can subsequently spread or ‘spill over’ into humans through handling and consumption of wildlife, potentially starting highly contagious outbreaks of new and deadly diseases for which we have no natural immunity — as we are currently seeing with COVID-19 and have seen with SARS, Ebola, monkeypox and Lassa fever in the recent past,” the lawmakers explained. “Wet markets in particular pose a threat to global public health because wildlife comes from many different locations without any standardized sanitary or health inspection processes.”
The lawmakers estimate that 60 to 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, meaning they originate in animals before infecting people. These types of diseases have been responsible for at least five pandemics over the last 45 years, they said.
China did ban wildlife trading in the markets, according to the New York Times, but they provided an exception for medicinal use.
In addition to McSally, the following Senators signed on to the letter: Cory Booker, D-N.J., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Chris Coons, D-Del., Jeff Merkley, D-Wa., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Gary C. Peters, D-Mich., Richard Burr, R-N.C., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., David Perdue, R-Ga., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Tom Udall, D-N.M., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.
