Extra Credit Bioethics Reading

Summary:

There are currently around 29,000 rhinos worldwide. In the last five years, poaching for rhino horns has increased dramatically  putting them in danger of becoming extinct.  Luckily, there is a new 3D printing technology that is capable of creating synthetic rhino horns. By engineering yeast cells to produce the same keratins found in rhino horns. Scientists can combine these keratins with trace elements of rhino DNA, and use the resulting material as an ink in a 3D printing process. The finished product is one with identical physical, genetic, and spectrographic properties as a wild horn.

Benefits: Currently, rhinos are dying at much higher rates than they are being born. With the development of 3D printing technology, fewer Rhinos will be poached and killed for their horns. Also, the illegal market for rhino horns will go away completely.  

Risks: Many people believe rhino horns are able to be used as a blood cleanser, fever reducer, hangover cure and even cancer treatment. The issue is, producing the synthetic horns reinforces the idea that they have some medicinal value when there isn’t any scientific evidence to support it. The past few years, scientists and conservationists have been denying that rhino horns have any medicinal value in attempts to discourage people from poaching them. But, if we continue to incorporate the 3D printers, we are only diverting additional attention away from more tested approaches to combating the issue.

My Position: In order to save more rhinos lives, we should keep 3D printing. Although there are many people who discourage the production of synthetic rhino horns. With the number of poachings increasing each year, using 3D printers is the most efficient way to stop a large number of rhino deaths.  

Works Cited

"3D Rhino Horns – Conservation or Exploitation?" PlanetSave. N.p., 06 July 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <http://planetsave.com/2015/07/06/3d-rhino-horns-conservation-or-exploitation/>.

The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016. <http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/synthetic-rhino-horns-are-being-3d-printed-in-an-effort-to-defeat-poachers-10334751.html>.

N.p., n.d. Web. <http://wildtech.mongabay.com/2016/01/could-synthetic-rhino-horns-help-save-the-rhino/ >.