EMERGENCY PETITION FOR RULEMAKING TO CLOSE AND BAN ALL LIVE ANIMAL WET MARKETS IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK

BeVeg Law Firm petitions the NYS Health Commissioner, NYC Department of Health Commissioner, and the Governor. New York State should lead the world by example.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, April 13, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Pursuant to New York Senate Bill S5792 BeVeg law firm, on behalf of 761 New York residents and 22,350 others, filed an emergency petition for rulemaking for immediate adoption.

New York is the epicenter for the global COVID-19 pandemic, and just like the wet markets in China that gave birth to the coronavirus crisis, more than 80 dangerous live animal wet markets are in operation today in New York, despite the New York State of Pause Executive Order.

“This is a time for New York State to lead the world by example. How? By immediately closing and banning all live animal wet markets. This is about viral pandemic prevention and disease control; such measures are necessary to protect global public health, safety, and general welfare,” says Carissa Kranz, attorney-founder of BeVeg Law Firm.

History has proven that live animal wet markets are prime transmission locations for highly contagious deadly human viruses with zoonotic origin. These markets are packed with a mix of animals, tightly packed in cages, awaiting purchase for onsite slaughter. The conditions are unsanitary and soaked wet with blood, guts, feces, and other bodily fluids and parts. Wet markets are particularly dangerous to public health and safety due to the lack of inspection, sanitation, and close quarters of humans with live and dead animals.

NYC is particularly susceptible to a new, even more uncontainable virus erupting through its dense population of over 8 million people, all living in close quarters. In addition to the current uncontained COVID virus, there could be the introduction of new variants, which can reinfect and cause a global pandemic relapse. Such repercussions could be more deadly, and plague more people, as humans have no immunity and no vaccine.

“Live animal wet markets are a global public health crisis,” says attorney Kranz.

The CDC says about 75% of infectious diseases are of animal origin, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from zoonotic spillover.

The closing of live animal wet markets in New York is long overdue. In 2016, the New York Senate recognized “the unbearable odor that emanated from the markets.... [as] markets failed to properly dispose of animal entrails….Floating feathers clogged sewer drains and air conditioning/heating ducts and presented asthma, allergy and respiratory hazards. Experience in local communities has shown that these markets are not monitored appropriately due to the inadequate number of state and city inspectors necessary to ensure market compliance with health, food safety, and environmental laws. Lack of monitoring became especially frightening in light of Mad Cow disease and recent outbreaks of avian influenza (“bird flu”). The continued siting of live poultry markets in the midst of dense, urban and often residential areas has …. Forced [families] to move away from their homes and businesses were forced to close or relocate due to employee illness and a loss of customers.” Senate Bill (S7345, 2015-2016 Sess (N.Y. 2016))

“Live animal wet markets are a global public hazard. It is because of these markets that the world is being deprived of fundamental civil liberties: life (as the death toll increases), liberty (as we are forced into quarantine with stay at home orders), property (as the economic pursuit of property becomes nearly impossible for those sick or affected by stay at home orders),” says attorney Kranz.

As New York is the epicenter for the current COVID plague, all eyes are on New York. The next viral pandemic to erupt may be deadlier, and it could come straight out of the streets of New York. This is the time for New York State to lead the world by example and prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of new highly contagious and deadly global human to human communicable diseases by prohibiting all live animal wet markets in New York state -- effective immediately.

New York has a choice. Will New York risk launching the next viral pandemic attack? Or will New York lead the world by example by taking the necessary emergency action to protect global public health and safety by promoting pandemic prevention hygiene?

On behalf of New York residents, BeVeg law firm proposed rulemaking action that consists of adding Part 26 to the State Sanitary Code to address zoonotic diseases, planetary pandemics, and a legal ban to live animal wet markets. The law firm also recommends lawmakers consider the hundreds of dying workers who cannot exercise proper social distancing at slaughterhouses and close all slaughterhouses as part of the New York State of Pause Executive Order.
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New York Senate Bill S5792 relates to petitions for rulemaking on matters of significant public interest. This proposed bill requires an agency response when it is signed by 100 or more New York residents. In alignment with the proposed bill requirements as set forth in the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA), the petition for rulemaking and notice for emergency adoption to carry out the intended purpose of the petition, was served to lawmakers. While the bill relating to public petition for rulemaking is sitting in the senate, attorney Kranz drafted a petition that met the requirements of the proposed bill hoping it will be considered and answered in this emergency, since the bill, once passed, would require agency action or response to such a petition.

“The justification for this petition is the same justification laid out in the bill: ‘we expect the government to be ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’,” says attorney Kranz.

The Petition for Rulemaking and Emergency Adoption was filed by BeVeg Law and attorney Kranz on behalf of New York residents. While the full petition is live and still collecting signatures It was sent to the following lawmakers Sunday evening: The New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, the New York City Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York Governor Cuomo, and the Department of State. Copies of the public petition for rulemaking was sent to the Bureau of Communicable Disease Director, Daniel Kuhles, the Office of Public Health Deputy Commissioner, Bradley Hutton, the Bureau of Community Food Protection, Chief Sanitarian, Darby Greco, the Center for Environmental Health Gary Ginsberg and Roger Sokol, the New York State Assembly Administrative Regulations Review, the New York State Senate Assembly Administrative Regulations Review, the Regulatory Review Unit who reviews rules along with the executive chamber, and the New York Senate Majority Leader. This was filed in accordance with New York Senate Bill S5792 and Public Health Law - PBH § 206, with citations to NYC Healthcode Article 161.01(a, b) and 161.19 and Senate Bill (S7345).
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Historically, zoonotic viral transmissions from animals to humans have mutated into deadly viral global pandemics killing hundreds of millions of people, if not more. Just consider these zoonotic viruses linked to animal exploitation by humans:
--COVID-19, SARS, and MERS are all traced to live animal wet markets.
--Ebola is connected to the consumption of the meat of wild animals.
--E-coli and salmonella are connected to finding feces in food. A Consumer Report found that 100% of the hundreds of pounds of beef examined contained fecal matter.
--Swine flu strains repeatedly develop during the raising and slaughter of pigs for meat.
--Mad cow disease is a fatal disease which destroys our brain and spinal cord.
--Avian flu repeatedly develops from the raising and killing birds for meat.
--The Spanish flu, which killed 50-100 million people, and affected 500 million, or one-third of the world’s population, was an avian flu strain traced to an animal farm in Kansas.
--The HIV virus was introduced as a deadly human to human virus after humans came into contact with contaminated Chimpanzee blood as humans hunted them for meat.
--Hepatitis E is contracted by eating undercooked meat.
--The measles (MeV), which infects 30 million people annually, and kills close to 200,000 globally, has traced origins to early civilization in the middle east when cattle was introduced to humans and farmed in close proximity.
--Bubonic plague, or Black Death, is from eating animals infected by a deadly bacteria carried by fleas, or come into close contact with their bodily fluids.
--Smallpox has increasing evidence from DNA and RNA sequencing that it is a zoonotic disease that jumped from animals to humans. Some experts believe it originated as cowpox and mutated to evolve to what we call smallpox. It is estimated that the smallpox killed 300 million people in the twentieth century.
--Malaria is said to have originated in humans from chicken farming before mosquitos became carriers to keep the virus alive.
--Nipah Virus (NiV) is a zoonotic virus transmitted through contaminated food. Its origin is traced to pigs, and jumped to humans through sick pigs or close contact with their contaminated tissues.
--Listeria infection is a food borne bacterial illness most commonly caused by eating improperly processed deli meats and unpasteurized dairy products. Notably, processed meat is a group 1 carcinogen, according to the World Health Organization.
--Domestication of the horse led to the common cold virus that still plagues humankind.
--Domestication of chickens gave humans chickenpox, shingles, and various strains of the bird flu.
--Introduction of livestock cattle is responsible for the emergence of measles, smallpox, and tuberculosis.

BeVeg is a law firm for vegan advocacy, laws, and vegan certification. BeVeg has the trusted and leading global vegan certification trademark. The vegan logo can be found on product packagings around the world. Carissa Kranz, Esq. is a Super Lawyer-awarded attorney, a vegan from birth, and the founding attorney and CEO of BeVeg International, a law firm for vegan.

The formal petition for emergency rulemaking is live. For the most up to date number of signatures or NY resident address verification, please contact the petitioner point person. The online petition is hosted by Lady Freethinker (LFT) a 501c3 nonprofit media organization founded by Nina Jackel. The petition is live and can be viewed and signed here: https://ladyfreethinker.org/shut-down-all-live-animal-wet-markets-new-york/

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Attorney Carissa Kranz, founder of BeVeg Vegan Certification Law Firm, Files Petition to Close and Ban All Live Animal Wet Markets in the State of New York.