Elle MacPherson and the Rhino Horn Scandal That Should Have Been.

So... Elle MacPherson, supermodel extrodinare... or something... admitted she consumed rhino horn. She told Witter that it tastes "A little bit like crushed bone and fungus in a capsule." One wonders how she knows what crushed bone tastes like.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7139977.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2

Rhino horn, apparently, is made of keratin, which is what your fingernails are made of. Whether a lot of crushed fingernails would taste like crushed bone, I don't know, but I don't think that biting your nails has been seriously reccommended as a treatment for anything other than one's nails being too long, so it would follow that attributing some sort of miraclous medical qualities to something made of the same substance is a little baseless. MacPherson herself didn't have a good explanation for how consuming rhino horn, or Chinese medicine in general would have any benefits - she merely claimed that it worked for her, which leads me to think that she just deluded herself into thinking that there would be any benefits from the practice, helped no doubt by those people who trade in Chinese medicine.

So... we have a group of five species, three of which, according to Wikipedia, are critically endangered and a fourth endangered, and they're being hunted down so people can swallow ground down fragments of their horns, when those people could basically get the same substance by grinding down their fingernail clippings. If anyone would like to point out the logic to this practice now would be a good time to speak up.

Thonoir has a post on the subject here:

http://networkedblogs.com/5yVZh

As he notes, his efforts at getting the issue the public exposure it deserves were less than successful. The interview SHOULD have caused a scandal. Instead, it seems was reported on and then left alone, at least until MacPherson came out and made an apology.

Some apology.

Thonoir quotes her words from and refers to an article here: http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/185887-elle-macpherson-statement-star-denies-using-banned-animal-products/

Things that are wrong with her statements:

She said she "never knowingly consumed or encouraged the use or consumption of any products which contain material derived from endangered species". So, either she didn't know she was consuming rhino horn, she actually didn't consume rhino horn and she somehow thought her comments would be seen as a bit of a joke, or she didn't know that rhinos are endangered, despite apparently having dabbled in conservation issues via boycotting her favourite resteraunt for serving bluefin tuna.

While, to be fair, may be possible that when she said "works for me" she was talking about chinese medicine in general, she WAS, if we can rely on the interview on the Sunday Times websits, referring to rhino horn when she said "Does the job though."

Apparently she regrets "any distress or offence that her banter with an interviewer might have caused". Oh. I see. So the "she somehow thought her comments would be seen as a bit of a joke" hypothesis has some merit then. It was banter. Not meant to be taken seriously, it was a joke, have a laugh and move on banter. Yeah... right. Either the woman was lying when she said she didn't consume rhino horn, or her "banter" was in incredibly poor taste.

Keeping to the subject of "reasons why Elle MacPherson is a bit of an idiot", there's this little exchange between herself and Witter that was reffered to at the beginning of this post:

Witter: Are you tired of the press? Is it anyone’s business whether you wear a cycling helmet?

E MacP: I’m sure I’ll be slammed again this summer for riding my bike around Notting Hill with a child perched on the handlebars.

A quick Google search reveals that she was criticised for that in 2008:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2974763/Supermodel-Elle-MacPherson-criticised-for-letting-son-ride-on-handlebars.html

By her comments, it seems that she's quite happy to do it again.

Suddenly the disregard the woman shows to animal welfare is less surprising: she's careless with the safety of her own children.