DNA tests are the latest weapon in the fight to stop illegal timber. Wood samples can pinpoint the species and origin to ensure shipments are legal with an Australian company already considering its use, and an Australian scientist behind the invention. Source: Vancouver Sun
Retailers such as Kingfisher, Marks & Spencer and Australian timber wholesaler Simmonds Lumber are either already using the technology or looking to add it to their existing timber sourcing practices.
A laboratory run by Andrew Lowe, the chief scientific officer at Double helix and one of the world’s top plant geneticists, is the front line in the global fight against illegal logging.
It was at his laboratory at the University of Adelaide in South Australia that the method of extracting DNA was refined.
“The DNA is in every cell in a wood product and you can’t falsify that DNA,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“We see this as the way for-ward,” said Jamie Lawrence, sustainable forest and timber adviser for Kingfisher, Europe’s largest home improvement retailer.
Kingfisher has been using the services of Double helix, on an ad hoc basis to unmask cases of possible timber fraud in their supply chains, he said.
With the miniaturization of genetic testing equipment, desktop-sized prototypes are already on trial.
Laboratories around the globe could be carrying out cheap DNA timber tests for companies, customs agents and the police within two years.
