Bing Lin on Classifications of Wet Markets, Safeguarding Food, Health & Biodiversity: Nov. 29, 2021

We are joined by Bing Lin, Princeton University PhD candidate in Science, Technology & Environmental Policy, for discussion of a new co-authored publication in The Lancet concerning establishment of better classifications for wet markets. In this work, Lin et. al. argue that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has revealed a blended need for safeguarding human health, cultural traditions of wet markets as food sources and biodiversity concerns. The authors caution against blanket calls for banning wet markets, which can result in xenophobia and anti-Asian backlash as well as resistance to cultural erasures of food sources. Instead, this new publication explores a taxonomy of markets, products and potential risk factors framed "along a nested progression of risk establishment" to aid in better assessments of zoonotic risks, human health concerns and biodiversity protections as integrated dynamics of wellness.