Faux Rhino Horn a bad idea, say conservation groups

Cape Town - Alternative means of addressing Asia's appetite for Rhino horn are not the solution according to Conservation Groups who fear the trade in the biologically engineered faux horn could accelerate consumer demand for illegal wildlife products - indirectly causing rhino poaching rates to skyrocket across southern Africa.

As a result, WildAid and the Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday formally petitioned the Obama administration to ban the sale and export of so-called “synthetic” rhinoceros horn - currently being proposed by venture capital-backed companies such as Pembient who have told media about its intention to sell both powdered rhino horn and “carvable” horn for the production of durable goods, like jewelry, libation cups and chopsticks.

Rhino horn is coveted by some in Vietnam and China as a status symbol and as a panacea for ailments and diseases, from hangovers to cancer. 

The petition urges that cultured horn be classified as a product derived from a rhino, as trade in such products is clearly prohibited by the ESA and the RTCA, and is strictly regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). WildAid and the Center for Biological Diversity are asking the Service to issue new rules affirmatively banning trade in the product. Full text of the petition is available here.

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The Center for Biological Diversity and WildAid argue that exporting synthetic rhino horn for sale in Vietnam and China will perpetuate myths of rhino horn’s medicinal potency as well as complicates law enforcement, as the real and synthetic products are meant to be visually indistinguishable, which will allow real, illegally-poached rhino horn to be laundered as lab-made. It also introduces a new, broader consumer base for rhino horn products, stimulating future demand for “real” rhino horn.

“When something looks too good to be true, it usually is. Despite near-universal condemnation by conservation experts, the serial entrepreneurs peddling this product are playing a dangerous game for their own profit, while conveniently overlooking the genuine threat it poses for rhinos,” said Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid.

"Rhinos are being poached to extinction for their horn. That has to stop before we lose them forever,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “US law protects rhinos by prohibiting trade in their parts, and these ‘synthetic’ but biologically identical horns are no exception. We need to save rhinos by eliminating demand, not accelerating it.”

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The product is created in part by inserting the rhino genetic code into yeast, which then produces keratin, the protein that primarily constitutes rhino horn (and is also found in human hair and nails). Pembient then seeks to create an authentic “DNA signature” by combining the keratin with rhino DNA.

Pembient’s plans for consumer goods containing rhino horn have included a beer brewed in China and a skin cream for distribution in Vietnam labeled “Essence of Rhino Horn.” More recently, Pembient has stated it will focus on producing solid, carvable horn — a product that would also likely be ground into powder form by many consumers.

Experts believe the best way to save rhinos is to reduce consumer demand for rhino horn. Rhino poaching is now at crisis levels.

In South Africa, alternative measures to stem poaching have included domestic trade in rhino horn - with a moritorium effectively lifted in a Pretoria court due to a technicality related to incorrect government procedures. 

WildAid said the South African government, concerned that domestically-sold horn would leak out into the international market, had attempted — but failed — to prevent the moratorium from being lifted - with some claiming that prominent private rhino owners who contested the moratorium hope to attract east Asian citizens to South Africa to consume rhino horn in-country as a form of medical tourism".

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Over the past decade, largely due to demand for horn in Vietnam, poaching surged from 262 rhinos poached in 2008 in South Africa, where most of the killing has taken place, to 1 215 in 2014.

New figures released last month indicate poaching had dipped slightly in 2015 but remains shockingly high, with 1 175 rhinos killed in South Africa. Countries such as Namibia and Zimbabwe, where poaching has been largely suppressed in recent years, saw dramatic increases in the rate of rhino poaching last year, often in areas once considered too remote to be vulnerable to poaching.

WildAid, African Wildlife Foundation and the Vietnamese organization CHANGE are working to reduce rhino horn consumption in Vietnam and China, utilizing similar methods deployed in a successful campaign to reduce consumption of shark fin in China by 50 percent to 70 percent.

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