As a constituent and a supporter of the Wildlife Conservation Society, I am writing to urge you to cosponsor HR3424/S1737, the Global Pandemic Prevention & Biosecurity Act and ensure that the global health security agenda of the U.S. government addresses the root causes of pandemics of zoonotic origin - the spillover of pathogens or diseases from wildlife to people. The House passed the NDAA with HR3424 attached, but the Senate version of NDAA does not include pandemic prevention. Building on the momentum in the House we need the Senate to include pandemic prevention provisions in the NDAA. HR3424 and S1737, the Global Pandemic Prevention & Biosecurity Act establishes those critical programs to prevent pandemics of zoonotic origins. As the cosponsor list grows the bill cannot be ignored in the Senate.

It is in the U.S. national security interest to partner with countries to lead a more proactive approach to pandemic prevention by targeting for elimination those destabilizing practices that increase the spillover of diseases from wildlife to people. So much of the global health security agenda focuses on preventing the spread of viruses and diseases after they have surfaced and spread among people, communities and then across borders.

The Global Pandemic Prevention & Biosecurity Act would strengthen the U.S. government’s pandemic prevention and preparedness by establishing authority in the U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, Centers for Disease Control and the National Security Council to invest in programs that will stop the root causes of pandemics, monitor emerging pathogens in wildlife and animals that will provide policymakers tactical information about spillover events overseas. The commercial trade in live wildlife for human consumption and associated markets, deforestation and forest degradation, and agricultural intensification around the world create conditions that allow for pathogens to spillover from wildlife to people. Pre-spillover events are increasing in frequency in low and middle income nations around the world while the human loss, economic impacts and destabilizing effects are felt everywhere. Monitoring pre-spillover activities in the developing world and conducting health surveillance of spillover events in communities with heavy deforestation, in commercial wildlife markets and in restaurants to prevent spillover events from spreading to epidemic or pandemic levels can serve as an early warning system for global health preparedness.

A strong framework for U.S. global health security and prevention will strengthen our national security. Please cosponsor HR3424/S1737 and support provisions in the NDAA that will invest in programs around the world to curb disease spillover events and strengthen zoonoses detection. It is not a matter of if the next pandemic will occur, but when. Preventive strategies need to address the root causes of spillover and mitigate destabilizing activities.