Tell Congress to Pass the Preventing Future Pandemics Act 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has shone a harsh spotlight on the need for urgent action to help prevent future disease outbreaks of wildlife origin. COVID-19, like SARS, MERS, Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and many other zoonotic epidemics before, initially emerged from wildlife, then made the jump to people through close proximity or human consumption.

A new bipartisan bill aims to address the global health risks posed by the wildlife trade by closing down wildlife markets and ending the international trade in wildlife for human consumption. This legislation, introduced in the Senate by Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and the House by Reps. Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Fred Upton (R-MI), would:

• Help shut down commercial wildlife markets overseas and the cruel wildlife trade that fuels them.
• End the import, export, and sale of terrestrial wildlife for food and traditional Chinese medicine in the United States.
• Phase-out demand for wildlife as a food source by encouraging alternative forms of food production.

The impact of the current pandemic in terms of loss of human life, physical and mental health, the global economy, livelihoods, and the quality of public life has been utterly devastating and cannot be underestimated. Global and national action to curb the wildlife trade is one of the most effective strategies to prevent future pandemics and is necessary to reduce animal suffering and protect biodiversity.

While we ultimately need to see an end to the wildlife trade for all purposes, not just human consumption, this bill is an important step in helping to avoid another global health crisis and will prevent millions of animals from being cruelly bred in captivity or poached from the wild.