Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Ban Wet Markets in New York
The current pandemic has shone a spotlight on the more than 80 live animal markets currently operating within the US city. Now a new bill seeks to shut them down for good.
Credit: Amy Jones/Moving Animals
Lawmakers are pushing for New York to ban its live animal markets, as the city is revealed to house more than 80 so-called ‘wet markets’ where live animals including chickens, rabbits, goats, cows, and ducks are slaughtered on market premises and sold for human consumption.
New York Assembly member Linda B. Rosenthal and State Senator Luis Sepúlveda introduced bill A.10399 on May 5, which states “emergency measures must be enacted to help the spread of zoonotic and other infectious diseases”.
“In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has ravaged New York and changed life for millions of New Yorkers,” Rosenthal said. “As policymakers, we have a responsibility to respond to this crisis by doing everything in our power to prevent the next pandemic. Closing New York’s live animal markets, which operate in residential neighborhoods and do not adhere to even the most basic sanitary standards, until we determine whether they can be made safe, is a vital first step.”
Experts around the world have linked the spread of COVID-19 to live animal markets, where animals are kept in crowded conditions, and are slaughtered on the spot, often through unhygienic practices. These markets are said to present a perfect breeding ground for viruses such as COVID-19 to mutate and spread.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.
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