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Requiring companies to sequence the genome on every lumber that they buy would seem a bit expensive, especially if they are liable if they get sequencing the ge
by belorn 2y ago
Requiring companies to sequence the genome on every lumber that they buy would seem a bit expensive, especially if they are liable if they get sequencing the genome wrong and sells products produced with illegal wood. The Government could do this as a vetting service for companies, paid through a tax on imported wood, but that would look very much like a tariff. That said, why not give companies and the free choice.
If we are considering domestic companies that are willing to break the law, neither tariffs nor regulations works. A company can smuggle to bypass tariffs, and they can ignore regulations.
- __MatrixMan__ 2y agoAt any significant scale the sequencing cost would be much lower than the tariff. You wouldn't have to do it for every tree since they're all clones. It's just nice because it's verifiable at any point in the supply chain without requiring oversight at every point. You'd only have to pay for the sequencing: - when adding a new cultivar to the list of ones that are legal to sell - during sting operations The threat of being fined/jailed should be enough to get the market to police itself. No need to add bureaucracy in the middle.