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DNA Testing for Illegal Ivory Trade

March 15, 2013

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, has increased trade regulations for endangered species like sharks, and it has also acknowledged the role that DNA testing could play in tracing illegal ivory to its source, Nature reports. The conference of the parties, or COP, said that such testing should be required when large seizures are made. Phys.org notes that poaching of the African elephant is at its highest level since the ivory trade was banned in 1989. The CITES resolution says that any country that seizes 500 kilograms (about 1100 pounds) or more of ivory must take samples and test them within 90 days, Phys.org adds.

"I was ecstatic because it was the first time that the entire COP acknowledged the value and need for DNA testing for the origin of poached ivory. All my hard work had finally paid off," Samuel Wasser from the University of Washington and who directs the Center for Conservation Biology tells Nature.


With perhaps as few as

Submitted by S. Pelech - Kinexus on Sat, 03/16/2013 - 01:34.

With perhaps as few as 250,000 elephants left world-wide, down from about 100 million just over a hundred years ago, maybe the ivory trade should just be banned completely. Even the sale of "legal" ivory just drives the demand for "illegal" ivory. Elephants are highly intelligent creatures with brains about 3-times larger than humans. Unfortunately for them, they have excellent memories than have span many decades, and they can recall all of the abuses they have received from human hands. DNA testing of ivory tusks merely provides for country-wide government legitimacy for what is still really a crime against nature.