Rep. Steve Chabot introduced a resolution urging all countries to ban “wet markets.”
The Ohio Republican’s resolution, which rolled out on Wednesday, encouraged nations around the globe to close the wildlife markets, one of which has been linked to the coronavirus.
Chinese “wet markets” sell meat and wild animals, including bats, cats, and dogs for human consumption. The Department of Agriculture has even purchased animals from such markets to use for experiments back in the United States. China’s Wuhan “wet market” has been floated as a possible source of COVID-19 virus.
“An unsanitary live wildlife market in Wuhan, China, launched the coronavirus pandemic,” Chabot said in a statement. “Clarifying these links will help us to better understand and prevent future pandemics together.
“Further, facts matter, and the CCP’s deliberate obfuscation of the origin of COVID-19 matters,” Chabot continued. “We cannot meaningfully call for the closure of live wildlife markets unless we are first willing to fight through the wall of CCP disinformation to affirm the basic fact that such a market (in addition to CCP incompetence) launched the coronavirus pandemic.”
He said his resolution, called the Live Wildlife Market Resolution, “shines a light on the gross inhumanity animals suffer at these markets” and calls on China to “cease spreading disinformation regarding the origins of the coronavirus.”
Other lawmakers have made calls for wet markets to cease operations, including Sen. Lindsey Graham. The South Carolina Republican warned in March that U.S. trade with China will “change” if Beijing does not crack down on its “gross” wildlife markets.
“I’m going to write a letter to the Chinese ambassador saying, ‘If you don’t shut those wet markets down, our trading relationship is going to change,’” he said.
“I don’t think this [coronavirus] came from a Chinese military lab, but these ‘wet markets’ are gross — they’re just absolutely disgusting, selling exotic animals that transmit viruses from animals to human beings,” he added. “Those things need to shut down.”
