Shut Down 'Wet Markets' To Stop Next Coronavirus: Sen. Booker

NEWARK, NJ — Animal rights activists are praising Sen. Cory Booker’s push to ban live wildlife markets worldwide, as experts continue to question whether there’s a link between so-called “wet markets” and the new coronavirus.

Last week, Booker, New Jersey’s junior U.S. senator, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, wrote a joint letter to officials at the World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

In their letter, Booker and Graham urged the agencies to take aggressive action toward a permanent global ban of live wildlife markets – also known as wet markets – as well as a ban on the international trade of live wildlife.

Booker, a Democratic Party member, and Graham, a Republican, recruited the support of dozens of their peers in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Bill Pascrell Jr., Donald Payne Jr. and Christopher Smith in New Jersey. (Read the full letter)

According to the senators, wet markets can create a breeding ground for infectious diseases such as the 2003 SARS outbreak, and are suspected to be the source of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Booker and Graham wrote:

“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. 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that the new coronavirus may have first spread “animal-to-person.”

According to the CDC:

“COVID-19 is caused by a new coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in people and many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and now with this new virus (named SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. All three of these viruses have their origins in bats. The sequences from U.S. patients are similar to the one that China initially posted, suggesting a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir.”

The CDC continues:

“Early on, many of the patients at the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China had some link to a large seafood and live animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread. Later, a growing number of patients reportedly did not have exposure to animal markets, indicating person-to-person spread. Person-to-person spread was subsequently reported outside Hubei and in countries outside China, including in the United States. Most international destinations now have ongoing community spread with the virus that causes COVID-19, as does the United States. Community spread means some people have been infected and it is not known how or where they became exposed.”

The Animal Wellness Foundation applauded Booker, Graham and their colleagues for taking a stance against wet markets.

“The federal lawmakers who acted yesterday know action on a global scale is required to prevent a recurrence of the next microbiological catastrophe,” President Wayne Pacelle said. “Never before has it been so clear that we are all in this together on this small planet.”

READ MORE: NJ Coronavirus Updates (Here's What You Need To Know)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also praised the lawmakers.

“The public health risks associated with the capture and confinement of animals for food are overwhelming,” said President Ingrid Newkirk, former chief of Zoonotic Disease Control for the D.C. Commission on Public Health.

“PETA is pleased to have Senator Booker calling for these filthy animal markets to be shut down,” Newkirk said.

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