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Written question asked by Bishop of St Albans (Bishops (affiliation)) on Wednesday, 21 May 2025, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 5 June 2025. It was answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour) on Wednesday, 4 June 2025 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.


Wildlife: Smuggling

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk posed by the illegal wildlife trade to emerging infectious diseases.

Answer

Most recently, Defra funded an assessment of the zoonotic potential of trade in species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) - https://hub.jncc.gov.uk/assets/964ae259-410e-4205-8ec7-e2c54f5c6e3d. This assessment was developed in conjunction with a study by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre - Study scopes potential of global wildlife trade to harbour zoonotic disease - UNEP-WCMC.

The UK also has in place robust measures to support our ability to understand, detect, prevent, respond and recover from disease outbreaks. This includes established systems to monitor for new and emerging biosecurity threats such as our Veterinary Risk Group (VRG) and the Human and Animal Infections Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) Group.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL7788
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Infectious diseases Wildlife Smuggling
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk