A company in Singapore, DoubleHelix Tracking Technologies, has
developed and commercialized DNA testing for wood, according to
Reuters.com. Detectives from the company have been hired to find
evidence of illegally imported wood in stores increasingly
worried about being duped by a global trade now worth billions.
They bring wood samples into their lab and test them to pinpoint
the species and origin of a piece of timber. Wood products are
tracked from forest to shop to ensure the shipments are legal.
"This is like CSI meets save the planet," Jonathan Geach,
executive director of DoubleHelix Tracking Technologies told
Reuters. Every two seconds, an area of forest the size of a
football field is demolished by illegal loggers, the World Bank
said in a recent study. That means that each year, the total
mass of illegally cleared land is approximately the size of
Ireland. Until recently, the battle against illegal timber trade
has had very little success. Now, with the U.S. and Europe
getting involved, and the plun