Mitigating Zoonotic Disease Threats to Prevent Future Pandemics: A Critical Analysis of Policy Favoring the Closures of Wildlife Markets in Latin America

Authors

Melany J. Danielson, University of Miami School of Law

Abstract

The Preventing Future Pandemics Act was introduced to mitigate zoonotic disease threats around the world by focusing policy efforts on the closure of wildlife markets that gave rise to COVID–19. This Note challenges the efficacy of wildlife market closure policy by considering cultural, socioeconomic, and legal factors for the existence of wildlife market within megadiverse countries in Latin America. Based on scientific research on the animal-to-human interface and zoonotic disease transmission, this Note suggests effective policy should incorporate a targeted species ban for reservoir species, improved sanitary measures and disease surveillance, and wildlife trafficking prevention. Ultimately, this Note calls for policymakers to take into account the context of a historically undervalued Global South, the realities of human behavior, culture, and society, and the science on disease transmission.

Recommended Citation

Melany J. Danielson, Mitigating Zoonotic Disease Threats to Prevent Future Pandemics: A Critical Analysis of Policy Favoring the Closures of Wildlife Markets in Latin America, 54 U. MIA Inter-Am. L. Rev. 123 (2023)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr/vol54/iss1/6