(September 30, 2020) If we are to reduce the likelihood of future pandemics like COVID19, the U.S. government has a critical role to play. WCS' Chris Walzer and John Cavelli write for Scientific American on the importance of coordinated federal action and a One Health approach to reduce the threat of future pathogen spillover, in particular from the high risk trade in live and fresh wildlife for human consumption:   We Need Federal Action to Prevent the Next PandemicWCS wholly supports the recently in...

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(September 28, 2020) A new peer-reviewed article in Frontiers: "COVID-19 and the Curse of Piecemeal Perspectives” authored by Dr. Chris Walzer, Executive Director of Health at WCS, emphasizes: we know that SARS-CoV-2 originated in wild animals, and we know that human degradation of the environment and trade in wildlife is driving such emergence of novel zoonotic diseases as we increase contact rates between people and wildlife from biodiverse, formerly intact ecosystems.  We critically need...

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(September 17, 2020) To reduce risk of future novel disease spillover with potential for devastating pandemics, we must address the commercial wildlife trade for human consumption. As WCS's Sarah Olson tells the Asia Society, our research has found an increased prevalence of coronaviruses in rodents along the wildlife trade in Vietnam, from trappers to markets to urban restaurants. Watch the video here:

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(September 01, 2020) WCS Health Program's Dr Chris Walzer, spoke with the New York Times as part of this must watch short doc: How to Stop the Next Pandemic.   "The destruction happening at the edge of forests is one area we're concerned about," he tells the paper, "creating contact with wildlife that didn't exist before." 

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