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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: 3, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday May 29 2015, @04:41PM
All this will do is cause verifiably real horns to become even more profitable. Which will lead to increased poaching.
Then there is going to be the "but I thought it was fake Rhino horn" defense when someone is arrested further down the supply chain. They would have plausible dependability.
Good idea and admirable goal but useless in the real world.
Its likely going to make the developers rich even if they can't pull it off.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @05:22PM
> All this will do is cause verifiably real horns to become even more profitable. Which will lead to increased poaching.
Has the existence of counterfeit sports memorabilia driven up the price of legitimate memorabilia?
The NFL doesn't seem to think so. [dailycaller.com]
> Then there is going to be the "but I thought it was fake Rhino horn" defense when someone is arrested further down the supply chain.
If you read the article the only difference between the real and fake are the presence of pollutants. How will they prove to the cops that they aren't real?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday May 29 2015, @07:18PM
All this will do is cause verifiably real horns to become even more profitable
How will they be verifiable? Bear in mind this is an illegal underworld activity. No-one can trust anything, certainly not any "verification" documents.