In February 2018, one of the largest U.S. animal‑protection groups, through its three subsidiaries, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society International, and the Humane Society Legislative Fund to Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, wrote to Washington State’s wildlife agency asking it to crack down on a startup called Pembient. Pembient, they claimed, based in Washington, was trying to grow rhino horn in the lab using rhino genetic material and had already started offering this “biofabricated” horn to buyers. The groups argued that this wasn’t just a tech experiment, but a form of trading in rhino parts that should be treated as illegal under a voter‑approved state law meant to shut down markets for endangered wildlife products.
The letter explains that Washington State passed a law to stop buying and selling parts of highly threatened animals, such as elephants, rhinos, and tigers. The Humane Society and its partners say Pembient’s product counts as a rhino “part or product,” because it is grown using rhino DNA or cells, and that even taking money now for the horn to be delivered later is effectively selling rhino horn. They ask the state to investigate and, if the facts check out, to take enforcement action.
Beyond the legal side, the authors explain why they believe lab‑grown rhino horn could be harmful to conservation rather than helpful. They worry that putting realistic fake horn into the market could increase overall interest in rhino horn products, bring in new buyers, and make “real” wild horn even more desirable as a luxury status symbol. They also stress that if synthetic horn is designed to look and test exactly like wild horn, wildlife officers will struggle to tell the two apart. That could make it much harder to catch and successfully prosecute traffickers in court, weakening existing protections for rhinos.
