<story><title>China bans consumption and trade of wild animals</title><url>https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sci-tech/china-bans-human-consumption-and-trade-of-wild-animals-1.4824540</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>someperson</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t see how this can be successfully enforced without a massive education campaign and actual enforcement by authorities, including moving the so-called &amp;quot;wet markets&amp;quot; (which are outdoor butchers that are very important to the food supply chain in many areas of China) into modern indoor facilities for improved food safety.&lt;p&gt;Older people in China (the so-called lost generation) are set in their ways: remember that in traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of an animal is directly proportional to its rarity. This of course creates perverse incentives to kill the last living members of endangered animals already under threat from poachers.&lt;p&gt;China has plenty of laws including a constitution that defends practicing free speech and religion, but in reality laws mean nothing if there&amp;#x27;s no enforcement.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mc32</author><text>This very important.  Both the PRC and USSR constitutions, on paper, arguably provide better freer basic law than that of the US but in practice it’s just words on paper.&lt;p&gt;However, also in practice the faction in power gets to capriciously enforce what it wants selectively, usually to solidify standing.  So mr Xi and mr Stalin (née Jughashvili) get to purge all want-to-be usurpers.</text></comment>
<story><title>China bans consumption and trade of wild animals</title><url>https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sci-tech/china-bans-human-consumption-and-trade-of-wild-animals-1.4824540</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>someperson</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t see how this can be successfully enforced without a massive education campaign and actual enforcement by authorities, including moving the so-called &amp;quot;wet markets&amp;quot; (which are outdoor butchers that are very important to the food supply chain in many areas of China) into modern indoor facilities for improved food safety.&lt;p&gt;Older people in China (the so-called lost generation) are set in their ways: remember that in traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of an animal is directly proportional to its rarity. This of course creates perverse incentives to kill the last living members of endangered animals already under threat from poachers.&lt;p&gt;China has plenty of laws including a constitution that defends practicing free speech and religion, but in reality laws mean nothing if there&amp;#x27;s no enforcement.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>FerretFred</author><text>&amp;gt;  massive education campaign and actual enforcement&lt;p&gt;I think if there was ever a place where that could be done, it&amp;#x27;s China.</text></comment>