Rhino Horns Can Be Bought – Biotech Firm To Make Synthetic Version That Is Purer Than The Real Deal

Rhino horns are the main reason why poachers butcher the majestic animal. However, a biotechnology firm in America has promised an artificially lab-produced rhino horn that is better than the real deal.

A biotech firm in California claims to have figured out a way to mass-produce synthetic rhino horns that are composed of the same elements that go into the real ones. It promises that the rhino horns they make are chemically indistinguishable from the ones that are grow on the rhinoceros.

Rhino horns have been in high demand for hundreds of years. They are an essential ingredient in medicines that are conjured in Asian countries like China and Vietnam. Since poaching a rhino and stealing its horn is illegal, poachers and their ill-gotten produce is high in demand in the black-market, further fueling the poaching of rhinos in Africa. The number of rhinos butchered mercilessly has risen steadily in Africa despite the government imposing strict laws against the practice.

Now Pembient, a biotech firm, claims it has a solution not just to stop the poaching, but to satisfy the rising demand of rhino horns, without harming the beast. They strongly believe their synthetic version is purer than the real deal. The powder they make is the same as the one that traditional medicines require, claims the company.

While Pembient justifies it can reduce demand of the real thing by flooding the market, the executive director of the International Foundation disagrees,

“Selling synthetic horn does not reduce the demand for rhino horn [and] could lead to more poaching because it increases the demand for ‘the real thing’. … And importantly, questions arise as to how law enforcement authorities will be able to detect the difference between synthetic and real horn, especially if they are sold as powder or in manufactured products.”

However, CEO of Pembient, Matthew Markus, doesn’t think so,

“We are sticking true to the science and we are focused on preventing the harming of wildlife by jumping ahead into the future and getting materials from a lab rather than messing with the environment.”

Though these may be noble intentions, advertising “medical properties” of rhino horn is a dangerous proposition.

Pembient is a San Francisco-based biotech company that has just joined SOSventures’ IndieBio accelerator program that aims to nurture early-stage biology start-ups. In 2014 alone, poachers killed 1,215 rhinos or roughly four percent of Africa’s population of the endangered species. Rhino horn powder is part of a US$20 billion wildlife trade industry.

[Image Credit | Aaron Tam / Getty Images]