A Seattle-based biotech startup is attempting to flood the rhino horn market with 3D printed horns in an attempt to undercut poachers and save rhinos.
Business Insider reports biotech company Pembient have begun developing 3D printer rhino horns in an attempt to undercut the rhino horn black market. Pembient plans to “bio-fabricate” rhino horns out of keratin, the same biological material that makes up fingernails and hair.
Matthew Markus, Pembient’s CEO and co-founder, stated that their 3D printed horns are absolutely identical to real rhino horns on a “macroscopic, microscopic, and molecular” level, making it impossible for collectors to tell the difference between real horns and 3D printed ones.
Poaching of rhino’s for their horns has declined in South Africa in recent months but it is still a large issue in the area. Nonprofit group Save the Rhino estimates that approximately 1,054 rhinos were killed in South Africa in 2016, an increase from just 13 in 2007. One of the largest markets for these items is in China, where collectors purchase the horns as high-value collectibles and investments.
Pembient plans to sell their horns to traditional carvers in Asia who will use the 3D printed horns as raw materials to create intricate jewelry pieces, ornaments, and decorations. These items will then be sold on the black market for extremely high prices. By placing their 3D printed artificial rhino horns into the market at multiple levels, soon it will be impossible for buyers to tell whether or not the horns are legitimate or one of Pembient’s high-quality replicas, driving prices down across the market and hopefully resulting in a lower demand for rhino horns.
“If you cordon rhino horn off, you create this prohibition mindset,” Pembient CEO Matthew Markus said. “And that engenders crime, corruption, and everything else that comes with a black market.”
The International Rhino Foundation and Save The Rhino International, two groups dedicated to saving rhinos, have pointed out that many rhino horns on the market are already fake. “More than 90% of ‘rhino horns’ in circulation are fake (mostly carved from buffalo horn or wood), but poaching rates continue to rise annually,” the two groups wrote in a joint statement.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com.
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