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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 CRCulver on Friday May 29 2015, @02:48PM
I'm not sure that Chinese consumers would believe these products to have supernatural powers, as they are not meant to impart some mysterious baraka or spiritual energy. Rather, these products are believed to have entirely natural medicinal properties like any number of herbal remedies. Of course, one might hold that the science behind it is bunk, but consumers are basing their trust in the product on a misunderstanding of the science instead of religious belief.
As for an education that preserves belief in the superstition to not be a "decent" one, again, so much of the Western world with advanced degrees, leaders in their fields, etc., believes in some kind of belief that one might label superstition. Just because a university education isn't perfect in one's eyes doesn't, I think, make a case for calling it "not decent".
(Score: 1) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @06:47PM
Please re-read what I wrote:
> unsupported, superstitious belief about the ``supernatural powers'' of an animal product
I don't believe that there's any reasonable religion which requires / enforces that (even if one extends it to plant products, it's not the wine or the bread which has supernatural powers, it's the Priest transforming it in a miracle into identical items which have an additional spiritual property through transubstantiation, but are physically identical --- ``the only recommended daily allowance the host has is of God....'' and all that).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:13PM
> reasonable religion
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that formalized religion is the only kind of religious thinking. For example, catholicism is notorious for adopting local superstitions. Repurposing a pagan holiday into christmas is probably the most well known. So while the big details are likely standardized all the little local influences will not be.
Chinese medicine is mostly about the body being imbalanced in terms of things like yin-yang, qi, etc and the treatments are meant to restore balance. Given that frame of reference it is entire plausible that artificially manufactured treatments will lack the required amount of yin, qi, etc. Traditional chinese medicine doesn't have a consistent formalized practice the way western medicine does so at a minimum one 'doctor' can have a different idea about what is valid and what isn't.
(Score: 2) by CRCulver on Friday May 29 2015, @07:52PM
(Score: 1) by WillAdams on Friday May 29 2015, @08:01PM
Fine.
If one then offered such a Chinese person two rhinoceros horns, one genuine, one fake, each at the same price, which would they choose and why?
I'm betting that they'd pick and prefer the genuine one.
I'm also betting that they will choose not to purchase the fake ones --- seems as if the people making the fakes suspect this as well, hence their plan to flood the market, rather than market directly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @08:35AM
So what if they don't think it is supernatural? It has no basis in reality, so by definition it is a supernatural belief even if they don't think so.