MPs sound alarm over 'very serious risk' of new pandemic from animal fur trade
MPs sound alarm over 'very serious risk' of new pandemic from animal fur trade
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Exclusive: Labour stalls on election promise of ban after Tories dropped similar plan. Dozens of MPs and peers have raised the alarm over “a very serious risk to public health” from the trade in real fur after viruses with a high risk of spreading to humans were found on Chinese fur farms.
![[Fur farm animals suffer painful injuries and infections and psychological torture from being caged, say opponents]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/03/31/18/newFile-1.jpg)
More than 40 politicians have warned the government that fur farm practices could spark future pandemics by allowing new pathogens to emerge, according to eminent scientists. In particular, outbreaks of bird flu on hundreds of European fur farms pose similar risks to human health, the MPs and peers say.
![[Much of the UK’s fur is imported from China]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/15/04/Europe_Fur_Trade_92266.jpg)
In the US, one person has died of bird flu after it mutated and spread to cattle, prompting California to declare an emergency. Under Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, the Conservatives dropped plans to ban imports and sales of fur. They also failed to release the 30,000 responses to a formal call for evidence on the fur trade in Britain.
![[Blue foxes are treated like infected objects at a farm in Belarus]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/23/16/newFile-5.jpg)
Labour have also stalled on a pre-election promise to ban fur. In a letter to environment secretary Steve Reed, the cross-party group of 42 MPs and peers call for government backing for a new bill banning fur, and cite a recent study that concluded fur farms pose a “clear epidemic or pandemic risk” and “an obvious route [for the] next pandemic to occur”.
The authors of the letter, which claims the UK is “outsourcing suffering”, state: “The fur trade is not only an affront to animal welfare [but also] recent scientific investigations demonstrate that this industry presents a very serious risk to public health.
