IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 922 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that all nations should 
permanently close live wildlife markets and that the People’s Republic 
of China should cease spreading disinformation regarding the origins 
of coronavirus. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2020 
Mr. CHABOT (for himself, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. WILSON of South Caro-
lina, Mr. GUEST, and Mr. YOHO) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 
to the Committees on Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Energy and 
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
all nations should permanently close live wildlife markets 
and that the People’s Republic of China should cease 
spreading disinformation regarding the origins of 
coronavirus. 
Whereas zoonotic diseases, diseases spread from animals to 
humans, present a well-known threat for emerging infec-
tious diseases; 
Whereas zoonotic spillovers at the wildlife-human interface 
are not infrequent events, including diseases in the 
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•HRES 922 IH 
United States such as rabies, West Nile virus, plague, 
salmonellosis, hantavirus, or Lyme disease; 
Whereas the wildlife trade poses a significant risk of disease 
transmission to people, livestock, and wildlife in countries 
of transit and import, independent of their origin in the 
wild or in breeding facilities; 
Whereas zoonotic disease and subsequent pandemic threats 
from commercial trade for human consumption is gen-
erally independent of whether an animal is designated as 
threatened under domestic or international law, whether 
an animal was removed from the wild or born in cap-
tivity, or whether the trade is legal or illegal; 
Whereas severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) trans-
ferred from a bat to a masked palm civet and then to hu-
mans in the context of a live wildlife market in China, 
causing an outbreak in humans in 2002; 
Whereas Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), highly 
pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1), and Ebola all 
transferred from animals to humans, highlighting the 
threat posed to human health by zoonotic diseases and 
wildlife consumption; 
Whereas live wildlife markets, a type of wet market, sell both 
live and dead wild animals for human consumption, 
sometimes including animals such as rats, bats, turtles, 
snakes, foxes, civets, pangolins, and monkeys as well as 
cats and dogs; 
Whereas at live wildlife markets, animals often are kept in 
cramped cages and other inhumane conditions, as well as 
in close proximity to animals with which they would not 
come into contact in the wild; 
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Whereas many live wildlife markets sell, kill, and store ani-
mals often in unhygienic conditions, in which tables, 
stalls, and floors are often contaminated with feces, bod-
ily fluids, and blood which are known to be vectors for 
disease transmission; 
Whereas it is widely believed that SARS–CoV–2 originated in 
an infected bat and may have spread to humans through 
a second animal and spread within the Huanan Seafood 
Wholesale Market, a live wildlife market in Wuhan, 
China; 
Whereas SARS–CoV–2 which causes COVID–19 has come to 
be commonly called by the generic name of ‘‘novel 
coronavirus’’ or simply ‘‘coronavirus’’; 
Whereas, on April 3, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director 
of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis-
eases, said, ‘‘I think we should shut down those things 
right away . . . it boggles my mind how when we have 
so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual 
human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down. 
I don’t know what else has to happen to get us to appre-
ciate that’’, and continued ‘‘I think there are certain 
countries in which this is very commonplace. I would like 
to see the rest of the world really lean with a lot of pres-
sure on these countries that have that, because what we 
are going through right now is a direct result of that.’’; 
Whereas there have been widespread calls for the permanent 
closure of live wildlife markets from members of Con-
gress, public health experts, wildlife and animal health 
experts, and animal welfare and conservation organiza-
tions; 
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Whereas the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the Government 
of Vietnam promptly drafted a directive to prohibit wild-
life trade and consumption by April 1, 2020; 
Whereas, in December 2019 and early 2020, Chinese Com-
munist Party officials initially sought to cover up the out-
break and have not been sufficiently transparent with the 
global community regarding the emergence and initial 
spread of SARS–CoV–2; 
Whereas Chinese Communist Party officials have spread 
disinformation to cast doubt on the facts surrounding the 
emergence and initial spread of SARS–CoV–2; 
Whereas Chinese Communist Party officials have suggested, 
without evidence and in opposition to the widespread 
views of the medical community, that the United States 
Army brought SARS–CoV–2 to China; 
Whereas in response to SARS–CoV–2, the People’s Republic 
of China has taken steps to curtail the wildlife trade, and 
the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market has been closed; 
Whereas these steps have allowed for the continued exploi-
tation of wildlife for several nonfood purposes; 
Whereas there have been reports that wet markets for live-
stock have been allowed to reopen in China; and 
Whereas the People’s Republic of China ordered the closure 
of live wildlife markets following the SARS outbreak, but 
allowed their reopening as it subsided, leading to another 
outbreak of SARS later that year: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) affirms that animals are subject to inhu-
mane treatment in unsanitary conditions at live 
wildlife markets as well as through the exotic pet 
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trade and other wildlife trafficking, including in the 
United States; 
(2) affirms the unanimous consensus of the 
medical community that SARS–CoV–2 emerged in 
Wuhan, China, and spread through the nexus of the 
Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in that city; 
(3) is encouraged by the People’s Republic of 
China’s decision to permanently ban the sale of wild 
animals for human consumption and calls on it to 
sustain and strengthen these policies; 
(4) calls on all governments to permanently 
close live wildlife markets; 
(5) calls on the World Health Organization to 
advise member states to close live wildlife markets 
around the world; 
(6) calls on the Chinese Communist Party offi-
cials and the propaganda organs of the Chinese 
Communist Party to cease spreading disinformation 
on the origins of, and initial response to, SARS– 
CoV–2; and 
(7) affirms the importance of the link between 
animal and human health and affirms the impor-
tance of continued research regarding zoonotic dis-
ease threats to humans. 
Æ 
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