New Thai innovation in fight against ivory trade

BANGKOK: A NEW Thai-developed wildlife forensic science innovation called ‘Tusk’ is ready to be used in the fight against illegal ivory trading by quickly identifying if a tusk or ivory product came from Asia or Africa.

Determining the origin of smuggled ivory tusks and products will now be carried out faster - within 10 minutes - and without having to destroy the items thanks to the portable X-ray fluorescent 'Spectrometre'.

'Tusk' is the result of a collaboration between the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Chiang Mai University (CMU)'s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

DNP sponsored the project and provided 208 ivory samples from Asia and Africa for CMU researchers to study.

The origin of samples is determined in accordance with the Thailand National Ivory Action Plan (revised edition). The plan was proposed to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) secretariat and led to an amendment of the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act 1992 in Thailand, with African elephants declared protected animals.

Thailand also passed the Ivory Trade Act 2015 in a bid to control the trade of ivory and ivory products to prevent African ivory entering the Kingdom.

Previously, the inspection of illegal ivory was based on physical characteristics. It was then ground into powder and the DNA was checked to determine its origin, a process that normally took two weeks.

At a press conference last week at Chiang Mai's Holiday Inn Hotel, DNP deputy chief Kanita Ouitavon said there was now no need to destroy seized ivory.

She said the CMU study was practical and could help promote other innovations by Thai scientists, researchers and institutes.

However, she said this was an initial success and the new challenge for scientists was to improve the device's efficiency.

Veterinary medicine lecturer Korakot Nganvongpanit, who headed the research project, said it was important not to destroy ivory samples. He said scientists could tell where ivory came from based on minerals found in the ivory.

Korakot said African and Asian elephants eat different food and live in different environments, so the minerals found in them are different.

There have been similar studies in other countries but this was the first time a portable tool for ivory differentiation had been developed, he said.

The device features a modified X-ray machine from Bara Scientific Co Ltd. The original machine is used in the mining industry. Of the 208 samples, 102 were from Asian elephants and 106 were from African elephants.

The device, which can detect up to 70 minerals, detected 23 minerals in the ivory when only 10 is needed to determine its origin.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/New-Thai-innovation-in-fight-against-ivory-trade-30275288.html

-- The Nation 2015-12-20

Another innovation would be "Effective policing and enforcement of current laws".

Tells where the ivory comes from does this help the donor ?

Illegal ivory trade?.. go tell it to the murdered elephants. what you need is to STOP THE KILLINGS

of the elephants in the first place and you will not have an issue with illegal ivory trade....

The Ivory trade needs to be stopped, and forensic and scientific tools to help that are valuable, but should not the priority be on stopping slavery and the trade in people? Once that is sorted, full steam ahead against the Ivory traders.

JAG, on 20 Dec 2015 - 07:38, said:

The Ivory trade needs to be stopped, and forensic and scientific tools to help that are valuable, but should not the priority be on stopping slavery and the trade in people? Once that is sorted, full steam ahead against the Ivory traders.

Why should these two separate & important issues be regarded as mutually exclusive?

Good idea, now dont need to destroy the ivory, now they can sell it! I thought the idea was to destroy it, so it couldnt be sold! Always coming up with good ideas.

JAG, on 20 Dec 2015 - 07:38, said:

The Ivory trade needs to be stopped, and forensic and scientific tools to help that are valuable, but should not the priority be on stopping slavery and the trade in people? Once that is sorted, full steam ahead against the Ivory traders.

Why should these two separate & important issues be regarded as mutually exclusive?

They're not. I think slavery is the greater evil, and therefore should have a greater priority. I suspect that well publicised efforts against the Ivory trade may well be used to screen a rather less enthusiastic approach to stopping slavery.

JAG, on 20 Dec 2015 - 07:38, said:

The Ivory trade needs to be stopped, and forensic and scientific tools to help that are valuable, but should not the priority be on stopping slavery and the trade in people? Once that is sorted, full steam ahead against the Ivory traders.

Why should these two separate & important issues be regarded as mutually exclusive?

They're not. I think slavery is the greater evil, and therefore should have a greater priority. I suspect that well publicised efforts against the Ivory trade may well be used to screen a rather less enthusiastic approach to stopping slavery.

This method sound like a great tool that can help authorities combat the 'laundering' of African ivory (ie, passing illegal African wild-sourced ivory off as domestic-source Thai ivory). Kudos to those who came up with it. However, it does need to be backed up with more rigorous application of the existing laws.

As for the possibility of a grand conspiracy to use publicized ivory-enforcement measures as a distraction from the appalling rights abuses of migrant workers, there is no chance of that. Such a conspiracy would require coordination between government agencies, which is not possible in Thailand.

When the buying stops, the killings can too.

Am I getting this right , there is a ban on ivory trade from Africa but none on the trade out of Asia and we now have invented a machine to distinguish ivory between the two different animals, now has someone been drinking Lunatic soup , why is it great to kill your Asian species and not the African Elephant , when both are in decline and extinction within the next 2 decades, once again it looks like Thai profits to the HI-So before respect , respect for all wild Animals , no wonder the UN and other countries attack Thailand on wildlife trafficking , among other issues......................................

...never heard of smugglers....or their backers ever being charged....

...as for the 'innovation'.....then what......???

...23 years later they implement known technology......that's a testimonial in itself......

To be fair, it seems that this innovation was originally pioneered by R. Kautenburger, J. Wannemacher and P. Muller and published in The Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 260 No. 2 (05/2004) :

"Multi element analysis by X-ray fluorescence: A powerful tool of ivory identification from various origins,"

pgs. 399-204; DOI: 10.1023/B, JRNC.0000027115.68661.98

Better the death penalty for ivory smuggling, etc. than for drugs in my opinion. Drugs only kill people. The ivory trade kills helpless animals.