Hello Ian: Very interesting set of articles. But much as I voiced last time, the focus only on China is not only misleading, but I would say it can lead some to feed into a dubious anti-China paranoia. Believe me - I am not being 'sensitive' for China. I am not a believer in 'Chinese socialism' nor am I a Mao follower. FWIW I consider Mao a huge anti-MLIST revisionist, and have written on this.
I am quite sure naive China-bashing is not what you intend. But without even caveats inserted that other countries might experience similar phenomena...... The lesion is as you would no doubt agree - Capitalism - as your title for the article states. It is not China, yet a reader might be forgiven for thinking otherwise. I doubt that you need these following references, as I am sure you know the scope of the data in other countries - better than I do. However FWIW - I think it is worth making two main points in a couple of brief examples: i) On Africa - as a major area of evolving zoonoses: Here is the W.H.O.: "The analysis finds that between 2001-2022 there were 1843 substantiated public health events recorded in the WHO African region. Thirty percent of these events were zoonotic disease outbreaks. While these numbers have increased over the past two decades, there was a particular spike in 2019 and 2020 when zoonotic pathogens represented around 50% of public health events. Ebola Virus Disease and other viral hemorrhagic fevers constitute nearly 70% of these outbreaks; with dengue fever, anthrax, plague, monkeypox and a range of other diseases making up the remaining 30%." W.H.O. "In Africa, 63% jump in diseases spread from animals to people seen in last decade 14 July 2022; at: https://www.afro.who.int/news/africa-63-jump-diseases-spread-animals-people-seen-last-decade "Yet even if sub-Saharan African nations procure vaccines, inoculation alone will not eradicate monkeypox, says Oyewale Tomori, an independent virologist in Ibadan, Nigeria. He cautions that vaccination is only effective if health officials understand the local epidemiology of the pathogen — and there are still many questions about how isolated cases of the disease have continued to pop up all over the affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. He recommends supporting research to investigate the animal reservoir of monkeypox so that health officials can devise more precise measures to curb the spread of the virus. “Without addressing the fundamental issues, you’ll end up using all your vaccines toward monkeypox,” he says, instead of dealing with the source of the problem — contact between wildlife and humans." Max Kozlov, "Monkeypox in Africa: the science the world ignored: African researchers have been warning about monkeypox outbreaks for years. As vaccines are deployed globally, they worry they will be left behind"; Nature 23 June 2022 (ii) On food habits: No doubt the SARS link was to the marketing of civets. But I believe it is misleading to use arguments implying the main aetiological agency is: "luxury food for the rich". I lived in China for 3 long stretches of months, and my local 'wet market' in Shanghai had many species but the market catered for what would be termed a middle class. Going for species other than 'standard' ones, reflects also simple food hunger and costs. And population pressure abutting onto forest land etc. For example monkeys in Africa. I do not have time now to dig out the precise aetiological links that had been made earlier to HIV - and I do not know if they were fully substantiated. But evidently this remains a concern: "Less than five years ago, scientists in West Africa warned that eating monkeys could lead to the rise of deadly viruses that will be hard to cure. In fact, they warned that the continued consumption of monkey meat could cause the next human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 2013, a year after this alarming warning, West Africa suffered the most widespread outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history. The virus, which scientists claim is animal-borne, has caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in West Africa and the larger sub-Saharan Africa. FREDRICK NGUGI,"Some Africans Continue To Eat Monkeys Despite Health Risk"; March 30, 2017, F2FAFRICA.COM; https://face2faceafrica.com/article/eating-bushmeat-ebola That view is apparently supported by a rather better source which states: " Dr Marcus Rowcliffe, a Senior Research Fellow at the Zoological Society of London's Institute of Zoology, co-directs a Bushmeat Research Programme.... (and) says, 'Eating bushmeat has the potential to create huge disease risks. 'It's pretty well evidenced now that HIV, for example, had origins in ape populations and probably crossed the species boundary through hunting.' Researchers have traced the crossover of the virus from chimpanzees to humans to the 1920s in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, likely after someone came into contact with contaminated blood as an infected chimp was butchered. Six decades later, the virus would become a pandemic of worldwide proportions." Josh Davis "Chimpanzees are at risk of being eaten into extinction, "'Anthropocene', for the Natural history Museum. At: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/november/chimpanzees-are-at-risk-of-being-eaten-into-extinction.html On the aspects of bushmeat eating: "Marcus says, 'You now have urban centres that are well connected to the surrounding rural areas where the bushmeat is sourced. As those transport links get better then it is easier to move that bushmeat into the markets.' It is now thought that up to five million tonnes of bushmeat are traded each year across the Congo basin. 'In urban centres bushmeat is increasingly becoming a luxury, because the amount that can be produced is not sufficient to satisfy those very large populations,' says Marcus. 'This means prices are going up, and it is increasingly becoming a status symbol.'" Davis J; Ibid. But that this ' luxurification ' is a secondary phenomenon is made clear by the report which goes on to say: "The bushmeat crisis in Africa is a complex problem, and many organisations are working to provide long-term food security to populations that are most in need. The current demand for bushmeat seems to show no sign of slowing, but there are hints that a generational shift might be appearing, particularly among the growing young urban population." Davis J; Ibid. Thanks for considering, Hari -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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