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A startup company called Pembient is developing a process to synthesize rhino horns. Their aim is to mass produce fakes that are indistinguishable from real horns, and hence destroy the profit motive for killing wild rhinos.
The plan begins with using modified yeast cells to produce a substance called keratin, the main component of the horn. Various trace elements found in natural horns are added in, as well as genuine rhino DNA. From these materials, a 3D printer is then used to recreate the complex structure of the horn. The only things that are missing, are the trace elements of pollutants that have made their way into the real rhino horn over time. This makes the synthetic horn more pure than the real one.
Some wildlife groups are very skeptical of the plan.
Pembient's concept, which another company – Rhinoceros Horn LLC – is also pursuing a version of, has raised the hackles of conservation groups from the World Wildlife Foundation to the wildlife monitoring network Traffic. It panders to consumers' behaviour rather than trying to change it, which could set back efforts to educate, they say. "There is general horror at the idea," says Cathy Dean, international director of the UK-based charity Save the Rhino, which earlier this month issued a joint statement with the International Rhino Foundation opposing the synthetic horn. Dean adds that ersatz horn is unlikely to dent the market – if people can afford the real thing they are going to buy it – and rebukes the company for failing properly to consult conservation professionals on the idea first.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Friday May 29 2015, @01:22PM
Their aim is to mass produce fakes that are indistinguishable from real horns...
...but are laced with chemicals known by the State of California to cause impotence and male breast development. That might actually make people think twice before using the stuff. Sadly, there probably aren't enough Rhinos to last until the secondary effect of removing horn-users from the gene pool cuts in.
Sorry. That was an unethical thing to suggest. I fully and unreservedly withdraw the comment. However, anything else risks having unintended consequences and actually expanding the market, as already suggested. Also, a glut of fake (and therefore perfectly legal to import) horns is just going to make it harder for customs officers etc. to pick up the real thing.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday May 29 2015, @01:59PM
I think we should do to them what Saudi Arabia does to their thieves - all people who believe that rhino horn has super powers should have their noses and penises both cut off permanently.
And I do NOT withdraw my comment. There are too many goddamn people in this world, and culling the more stupid would be a good first start in saving the planet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @03:05PM
should have their noses and penises both cut off permanently.
Please elaborate on how one gets their nose or penis cut of non-permantently and to what purpose one would effect this.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday May 29 2015, @03:23PM
They were able to reattach John Bobbitt's [wikipedia.org] penis after it had been cut off by his angry wife. What I am proposing is to destroy or permanently relocate from their previous owners the removed noses and penises.
Also, scientific fun-fact -- the fearsome Bobbitt worm [youtube.com] was named after John Bobbitt, for obvious reasons.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Saturday May 30 2015, @11:44AM
What I am proposing is to destroy or permanently relocate from their previous owners the removed noses and penises.
I'm sure that the dried and powdered penis of a rhino poacher would be every bit as medically effective as rhino horn, so the operation should be nicely self-funding...