It’s not about protecting elephants but rather about control.
B http://news.newsmax.com/?Z64RYXduakOf9BLUisqznjgZIXykxfR1Z&ns_mail_uid=1469942&ns_mail_job=1565184_04202014 *Federal Ivory Ban Has 'Unintended Consequences'* A proposed federal ban on ivory trading could outlaw the resale of many common objects — including pianos — and is unlikely to reduce the illegal ivory trade, according to a report from the Hoover Institution. The Department of the Interior, which is charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, recently announced plans to introduce a "ban on Commercial Trade of Ivory as Part of Overall Effort to Combat Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking." But the ban would have "unintended consequences," the report points out. The ban would cover the sale of objects that contain any amount of ivory, and the shipment across state lines by the owner of any object that contains ivory. "With all guns blazing, the White House report steps up enforcement at all stages of production and distribution, without once mentioning the competing interests of current property owners of ivory: piano keys, chess sets, ivory pegs and bridges for fancy guitars, dice, tea sets, and thousands of other decorative uses are all caught up in the downwind," report author Richard A. Epstein observes. "The proposed regulations appear to require that a piano owner show, for example, that the ivory found in its keys, some of which could be replacements, came in through one of 13 ports that were licensed to receive goods made of ivory. But these ports did not keep records until 1982." The ban would not affect ivory sales in the rest of the world. In fact, removing ivory in the United States from the market will increase the value of new ivory sources, further incentivizing poachers and traders, according to Epstein, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Lawrence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University. Ivory hunters currently slaughter up to 35,000 African elephants a year, and a pound of ivory can fetch $1,500. But Epstein maintains that there is no reason to believe a domestic ban in the United States will have "any discernible positive effect" on the illegal ivory trade. He concludes: "In light of these considerations, Interior should rethink the scope of its regulations fast." __._,_.___ Visit Your Group<https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmbWpuN21zBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzEzOTgwMTU2MTQ-> [image: Yahoo! Groups]<https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaGVkdWJpBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTM5ODAxNTYxNA--> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • Unsubscribe <[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe>• Terms of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> __,_._,___ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
