![]() Other conservationists have also criticized media outlets for incorrectly tying the aphrodisiac issue so exclusively to Asian traditional medicine or folk therapies. The TRAFFIC report even implies the Vietnamese buyers who believe in rhino horn’s aphrodisiac powers may have picked up on a media obsession with the idea. Slogans compare rhino horn with “a luxury car,” tout its ability to “improve concentration and cure hangovers,” and trumpet “rhino horn with wine is the alcoholic drink of millionaires.” Popular Vietnamese Web sites mix unproved medical claims with luxury sales pitches. Black market dealers have also pushed the idea-supposedly sparked by local media gossip-that rhino horn can cure cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The Vietnamese black market exemplifies how “urban myth and dubious hype” can encourage demand for rhino horn products-as both medicinal and status-boosting luxury products-the TRAFFIC report says. "But it’s not the widespread demand driving the rhino horn trade.” “I would never say that (aphrodisiac) is never a use, because I’m sure people buy into the myth,” says Leigh Henry, senior policy advisor on species conservation and advocacy at the WWF. Overall, conservationists say there is no sweeping aphrodisiac craze driving lust for rhino horn. This example stands out because it is rare, however. That group also included some men who also apparently believed rhino horn could cure impotence and enhance sexual performance. A 2012 report by TRAFFIC International, the World Wildlife Fund's trade monitoring program, described how wealthy Vietnamese and Asian expatriate business elites in Vietnam would “routinely mix rhino horn powder with water or alcohol as a general health and hangover-curing tonic”-an extravagant version of a detox routine. There is one group of buyers in Vietnam that may partially reflect the stereotype of horny Asians seeking a rhino horn fix. Most of the desire for rhino horn seems unrelated to any wish for a raging hard-on, experts say. A modern market for rhino horn necklaces, bracelets and beads has also sprung up. Wealthy buyers bid for antique rhino horn carvings such as cups or figurines to display or as investments. Some purchase horn chunks or powder for traditional medicinal purposes, to ingest or to give others as an impressive gift. Certain buyers in Vietnam and China-the largest and second-largest black market destinations respectively-covet rhino horn products for different reasons. These days the main threat to the surviving rhinos comes from the illegal rhino horn trade between Africa and Asia. Historically rhino populations were decimated by uncontrolled trophy hunting during the European colonial era. The reality behind the demand is far more complex. But this prurient tidbit overlooks the main factors driving the illegal rhino horn trade-and may even be reinforcing false beliefs about the substance’s powers. Mainstream media coverage blamed its usual suspects: Asian men who supposedly buy rhino horn as a crude form of Viagra. The brazen slaying and dehorning of an endangered white rhino in a wildlife preserve near Paris last month spurred widespread outrage. Only two females remain, pushing the subspecies closer to extinction. ( digitaljournal.Editor’s Note (3/20/18): This article is being resurfaced following the death of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino. In addition, production of synthetic horn encourages its purported medicinal value, even though science does not support any medical benefits. Rhino horn in the lab is as pure as that of a rhino of 2,000 years ago” said Markus.Ĭonservationists however, are skeptical about the success of synthetic horn and claimed that it may actually have harmful long term effects in combating the illicit trade.Īccording to Susie Ellis, Executive director of International Rhino Foundation, selling synthetic horn is not guaranteed to reduce the demand for rhino horn and could lead to more poaching due to an increase in the demand for “the real thing. “We can produce a rhinoceros horn product that is actually more pure than what you can get from a wild animal. ![]() Matthew Markus, CEO of Pembient said that his company would sell rhino horns at one-eighth of the price of the original, undercutting the price poachers can get and forcing them out eventually. Pembient, based in San Francisco uses keratin - a type of fibrous protein - and rhino DNA to produce a dried powder which is then 3D printed into synthetic rhino horns which is genetically and spectrographically similar to original rhino horns. The plan behind the fake rhino horns is to flood the Chinese market with the cheap horns to curb down poaching. Last year, a San Francisco biotech startup came up with 3D print fake rhino horns that carry the same genetic fingerprint as the actual horn.
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