[MAIPC] FW: Stop the next pandemic!

[Marc Imlay]

At our 16 July MISC meeting I raised the question as to how much stopping
the next pandemic by reducing wildlife trafficking, will prevent new
invasive species from coming here. 

 

Marc

End Wildlife Trade-Caused Pandemics

 
<https://www.sierraclub.org/maryland/blog/2020/07/end-wildlife-trade-caused-
pandemics>
https://www.sierraclub.org/maryland/blog/2020/07/end-wildlife-trade-caused-p
andemics

July 23, 2020

(Created by Lily Fountain and the Natural Places Committee team)

Stop the next pandemic! The Natural Places Committee urges Sierrans to act
on the important issue of wildlife trafficking. Why do we care about foreign
animals when Americans are dying from the pandemics of novel coronavirus and
racism? The scientific community currently considers the COVID-19 and
previous pandemics to have been primarily caused by transmission of viruses
from wildlife species such as bats, rodents, and other animals whose
habitats have been disrupted by wildlife trade (Scientific American, June
15, 2020).



Endangered Pangolin (above)

The United States is responsible for 20% of wildlife trade (Smith, 2017).
Furthermore, these zoonotic diseases have had a disproportionate impact on
Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. The Journal of the American
Medical Association reported data that illustrate that "Black and Hispanic
Americans are dying at far higher rates from the novel coronavirus than any
other groups in the nation" (JAMA, April 15, 2020, p. 1891). Researchers
further believe that more pandemics are coming without urgent action
(Natural Resources Defense Council, April 14, 2020).

Possible solutions to this crisis include banning international wildlife
trade, and increasing U.S. funding for fighting illegal wildlife trade.
Therefore, many environmental organizations such as Center for Biological
Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife,
Endangered Species Coalition, are joining together to stop the public health
and racial genocide caused by the virus introduced through wildlife trade.
There are several bills relating to wildlife trade in the U.S. Congress. We
urge you to contact your United States congressional representatives to let
them know how important it is to address this urgent issue and to amend and
support the Heroes Act and the PAW and Fin Act to include ENDING WILDLIFE
TRADE in order to prevent future health pandemics. Go to
<http://www.mdelect.net/> www.mdelect.net to find out your representative
and senators to the U.S. Congress.

References

Ashe, D., & Scanlon, J. (June 15, 2020).  A Crucial Step Toward Preventing
Wildlife-Related Pandemics, Scientific American.

Smith,  K. M. et al., Summarizing US Wildlife Trade with an Eye Toward
Assessing the Risk of Infectious Disease Introduction,
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5357285/> Ecohealth. 2017;
14(1): 29-39. Published online 2017 Feb 7. doi:
<https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10393-017-1211-7> 10.1007/s10393-017-1211-7

Jones, K., Patel, N., Levy, M. et al. Global trends in emerging infectious
diseases. Nature 451, 990-993 (2008).  <https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06536>
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06536
<https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536.pdf>
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536.pdf 

World Wildlife Crime Report
<https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/wildlife.html>
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/wildlife.html 

 



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