January 28, 2020

"It would be hard to design more opportune conditions for new viruses to emerge: Tightly pack together a variety of species from around the world..."

"... and transport them across borders directly into large wet markets. Ensure that these massively stressed and immunocompromised wild animals are in close proximity to domestic and farmed animals. Then distribute these animals to urban populations for consumption.... On state-monitored Chinese social media, a hashtag that translates as 'support a ban on wild meat markets,' originating from the government People's Daily, has been among the highest trending topics on Weibo over the past week. Another popular hashtag is 'the source of the new coronavirus is wild animals.' Among the messages from Chinese users: 'I hope that laws and regulations can be formulated in the future, when someone eats and sells wild meat, catch and sentence them directly,' and, 'Reject wild meat, for your and my health.'"

From "Abolish Asia's 'Wet Markets,' Where Pandemics Breed" a Wall Street Journal column by a global veterinarian and a director of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

34 comments:

Lucid-Ideas said...

I've been to several of these and yes, many of them live up to the stereotype, but many of them are quite professional and clean. They run the gamut just like grocery stores do in this country.

The problem to my mind is less the markets themselves and more the TCM (traditional chinese medicine) that still pervades thinking, even among the Chinese diaspora. Liver problems? Eat pig livers. Winter health problems? Dog meat and snake bile. Having problems in the bedroom? Rhino horn or deer penis.

The trade is fundamentally influenced by medicinal thinking that makes sugar pills look scientific, and it really needs to go. Even medical professionals in China still buy in to it somewhat. It is a cultural problem.

gilbar said...

You know; if you raise your animals, the way GOD intended
That is: In Comfortable Confinement Buildings, pumped full of Antibiotics....
And then, You slaughter them and wrap them in plastic....

You don't HAVE these sorts of problems

readering said...

Sars all over again. Shows incompetence of totalitarian rule.

rhhardin said...

Avoid bats that seem to have a cold, is my rule.

rhhardin said...

Dogs make your immune system stronger. They also revise your standards of hygiene.

mccullough said...

No dogs, cats or rats in Chinatown.

tim in vermont said...

"Shows incompetence of totalitarian rule.”

Totalitarian rule that started with “good intentions” and the same dream you share, readering.

tim in vermont said...

I once read an interview with a girl from China who got into Harvard and she was amazed at the fat squirrels in the parks. Nobody trapped and ate them.

Hagar said...

The "Spanish Flu" of 1918-20 began as a mutation on a farm or ranch in southwestern Kansas and went worldwide with the American Expeditionary Force to Europe to fight in WWI.
It is my understanding that they (the "scientists") still do not know just what made it so lethal nor what made it lose its lethality and continue to this day to roll around the world as just a "common" flu.

I am impressed by how fast these new lethal viruses so far have been identified and stopped from spreading a la the Spanish Flu, but think that is also pretty much luck.
Eventually one will get lose, and there will be little "they" can do about it.

tim in vermont said...

Why don’t we want socialism? Because we want to pet our dogs, not eat them.

tim in vermont said...

Why don’t they call it the Hunan Flu, it would be such a cool name. I guess it would be racist, and the people in charge of this must answer to the self appointed political officers that seem to be everywhere.

Chris N said...

Hey China, stop treating the Uighurs that way. Human rights are universal. NO MORE aligning with Russia on gas and making many African countries your debtor slaves. STOP building up those sand islands in the South China Sea. What are you going to do with that Ring Road? Free Tibet with Richard Gere! China you can’t have coal fired plants! What about the environment?

Hey Beijing no more wet markets and stop with Hong Kong. Jeez! Stop fucking with Vietnam and Japan and South Korea and just get along. Don’t prop up your economy with our dollars and leverage trade into centralized economic planning, some internal repression and potential external aggression and war. Join the Weatern War Against Peace and sing Kumbaya!😋

Or else we’ll keep boxing you in.

Gosh Mr Xi!

Say, how did you get your AI so good! Man, I wish WE Enlightened could command, plan and control like you guys. You just force people to move and invest where you want! It’s that easy! China ya big galoot, if only we could have a ruling cabal of post-ish Communists in charge over here, because American liberty is SOOoooo overrated and run by the same Oppressive Patriarchy you guys overthrew.

Namaste.

gilbar said...

Hagar pointed ouy...
I am impressed by how fast these new lethal viruses so far have been identified and stopped from spreading a la the Spanish Flu, but think that is also pretty much luck.


Yes, BUT;
Back in 1918 you had thousands of people, living in huts, and homeless; trash and blood everywhere
With bad food, and little to no medical care.

We don't have situations like That; at least not in America, Except for ALL our major Cities

Darrell said...

Or the article is just a load of shit and the virus came from the Chinese Virus Lab, 11 miles away from ground zero. I bet Commie labs try and weaponize everything. Wew sure do.

Amadeus 48 said...

You have to shut down that biological weapons lab down the street, too.

If a nation that has imprisoned a million of its own Muslim people for no reason and killed millions of its own people in the Great Leap Forward wanted to shut down these markets, they would (meaning that only Party elites would have access to them). Their existence provides useful cover for occasional accidents and perhaps even experiments.

I know that is paranoid thinking. Which way will the troll crew leap? China good? China bad? I know. Orange Man bad. Whatever Trump says, they are against it.

I laughed out loud when I saw some idiot from Vox tried to get the plagiarism train rolling against Trump for his sympathy tweet to Kobe’s fans and family. Trump’s tweet had not a single phrase or expression in common with Obama’s, which Trump was accused of copying. In a dream scenario, Trump would trademark “Sorry for your loss, sucker” and sell hats after the impeachment trial is over.

wild chicken said...

My great grandfather was a medical missionary in China. He died in 1911 and the rest of his poor family couldn't get out of there fast enough.

It was a dirty-disease ridden shithole then and apparently still is.

rhhardin said...

Avoid helicopter travel to China, lessons of the week.

rhhardin said...

Chinese food take-out containers shaped like dumpsters would be a commercial opportunity.

Or perhaps animal travel cases.

rhhardin said...

Also avoid getting an organ transplant from China for a while.

rhhardin said...

My vet posted a list of dog foods using Chinese sources that you therefore shouldn't use, long ago.

I check powdered garlic bottles for origin before buying. It's hard to avoid China but you can do it.

rhhardin said...

I have a DVD coming from China, as the only source, that I won't play on a PC but rather on a portable DVD player. Just as a virus precaution. You can't infect a portable DVD player.

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

Ding-Dong! Meat calling!

Or, as they say in Chinese social media, Dīng dōng! Jiào ròu!

Howard said...

Ted Bell from Ted’s of Beverly Hills came on to defend his restaurants slogan, “We want to put our meat in your mouth,” from an increasingly strident chorus of detractors; the religious community and families

rehajm said...

It would be hard to design more opportune conditions for new viruses to emerge: Tightly pack together a variety of species from around the world and transport them across borders directly into large wet markets.

Noah was pretty good at it.

Birkel said...

This is cultural imperialism, right?

Leftist Collectivist worlds are colliding.

Jupiter said...

Never let a good crisis go to waste.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Well good luck with that idea. If it weren't filthy, it wouldn't be China.

Seeing Red said...

We eat weird things, but no bats.

Leora said...

Why exactly is it a "wet" market instead of a "food" market? I understand it's not a "farmer's" market because there are undomesticated products for sale but "wet" is just odd.

Personally I think it would be sad to close down such markets ending such a long tradition and true global diversity. I hate to think of the Chinese being confined to the foods you could find in an American or European supermarket.

Mark said...

I have a DVD coming from China, as the only source, that I won't play on a PC but rather on a portable DVD player. Just as a virus precaution. You can't infect a portable DVD player.

Check out your system files. Good chance that the name for a lot of them is filled with Chinese characters.

Mark said...

They s**t openly on the streets in China.

Some people here in the U.S. do that in comment boxes.

narciso said...

now some (I couldn't possibly say) suggest it's not a accident,


https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10814760/bill-gates-predicted-coronavirus-simulation-33-million-die/

n.n said...

With a world-class biological laboratory in proximity, it's a veritable Racoon City.