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EVERY YEAR, THE black market for poached animals and animal parts is worth $20 billion worldwide.
Because of that, the rhinoceros is under severe threat. Figures recently published by South Africa show that 1,215 rhinos were poached there in 2014.
This represents a loss of nearly 4% of the world’s population and poaching has increased over 90-fold since 2007, a trend linked to rising standards of living in Asia, where rhino horn is prized as a traditional medicine and status symbol.
The solution to the problem, according to one San Francisco-based company is simple: create more rhino horns.
Pembient, which is backed by Cork/San Francisco venture capital programme IndieBio, creates rhino horns. Not fake rhino horns, but genetically identical rhino horns which they plan to flood the Chinese market with, destroying the demand for poached rhino horn.
“We surveyed users of rhino horn and found that 45% of them would accept using rhino horn made from a lab,” said Matthew Markus, the CEO of Pembient.
In comparison, only 15% said they would use water buffalo horn, the official substitute for rhino horn.
As Ryan Bethencourt, IndieBio’s Program Director, puts it, “We’re finally moving out of the realm of solely discussing biology in regards to a drug based world.
We’ll continue to heal human bodies through biotechnology, but we’ll also increasingly feed, clothe, and house the world through bioengineered systems. Ultimately, there’s no reason why live animals should be used in any part of our food or goods chain and we’re working to make that a reality.
Pembient plans on unveiling its first product this month. Limited quantities will be for sale shortly thereafter and a portion of all sales will go toward the protection and management of wild rhinos.
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flooding the Chinese market with copied goods. they won’t be happy with that.
You have to laugh at the irony, I read an article somewhere though that claimed the biggest importer of ivory isn’t China but the USA. Would love to see the same technology applied to that.
Humans the fcuking dumbest animal of the lot.
Third smartest after mice and dolphins actually
“Third smartest after mice and dolphins actually”
Ugh, I really have to interject here. No we’re not. We’re the most intelligent animals on the planet, by far. With logic solving capabilities unrivaled by any other species. Dolphins and mice are intelligent relative to other species.
That being said – there’s some extremely stupid people on this planet who believe in all kinds of crazy superstitions.
On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.
@Seán read a little sometime, it’s a dying art.
I meant humans in general, take religion for instance or astrology how dumb or naive to you have to be.
I have several cats and nine of them seem to have any understanding of, nor interest in, the true nature of the universe.
Education hasn’t worked, neither has protection of the rhinos. This seems like a pretty legit plan. Hope it works!
Or they could just eat their finger nails. It’s the exact same
We are the animals.. The most magnificent creatures on our planet are nearly becoming extinct, mountain gorillas, Tigers, lions, rhino etc.. It sickens me. When there gone we’ll realize how big of a mistake it was to overlook the situation
The only way to deter this medicinal e horn users is market the the full horn as a suppository. Job done.
Mhmmm… May have unintended consequences, Chinese people don’t rationally.
They will just pay a multitude more for what they think is ‘real’ rhino horn. If they think everyone can have rhino horn, then I must have the real stuff to prove I’m better, for the luck that it brings and because I have money and can afford it.
Pity the article didn’t tell us just a little about how they are grown in the lab. Sounds a good idea okay. Hope is works.
Mankind couldn’t give a toss about the natural environment. We only need to look at how our lives have changed with advancement in tech and science. We distance ourselves further from nature at every opportunity. Our diet is becoming unrecognisable from what nature provided, our living areas are more and more sterile work Tyne exception of the odd potted plant. What lies in store for the future of mankind is unclear but i think poor old rhinos and indeed planet earth are not priorities in our collective mindset.
That will never work as those who use them believe that the secret to the horn is what rhinos feed on, that the essence of the curative property of the horn is based on the grasses which the rhino feeds on…
I’d imagine the lab grown horns wouldn’t be advertised as such, and those buying wouldn’t be aware of the difference.
You flood the market with lab grown horn that is indistinguishable from the real thing, it no longer is a symbol of status as it’s cheaper and might not even be real, no one bothers buying it any more
They would know by the colour of the horn as the grasses do tint the horn Jimmy.
I see. Are the horns sold while or as a powder or something?
They would want to powder the horns themselves, as the powder could be diluted with anything that was horn, I suppose cow horns either and the tint of the horn could effect the prices as well?
Great idea!
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