Sir

The Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences (AAPS), of which I am president, changed its name in 2002 from the American Association of Paleontological Suppliers, to reflect our international and broad-based membership. It had nothing to do with the impending launch of the Journal of Paleontological Sciences (JPS), as claimed in your News story “Palaeontology journal will 'fuel black market'” (Nature 445, 234–235; doi:10.1038/445234b 2007, and Correspondence Nature 445, 709; doi:10.1038/445709b 2007, Nature 445, 709; doi:10.1038/445709c 2007 and Nature 445, 709; doi:10.1038/445709d 2007).

The AAPS actively supports efforts to locate and retrieve stolen specimens. The journal's submission guidelines state that the JPS will not publish fossils that cannot be legally exported from their home country, or where ownership cannot be verified. The view attributed to Mark Goodwin of the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley — that the new journal will encourage commercial fossil collection and hence increased illegal collecting activity and trade on public lands — is incorrect. Authors who publish in the JPS must abide by the AAPS code of ethics, and must agree to make their published specimen(s) available for study, as do many other scientific publications (see http://www.aaps-journal.org).

Commercial fossil trading in the United States started with quarrymen in New Jersey selling fossils to Joseph Leidy during the mid-1800s. By the 1870s, professional collectors were busy filling museums with dinosaurs and other fossils, by accepting the risks of exploration, discovery and excavation, then selling their discoveries, and in some cases collecting fossils on a contract basis. Visit any number of prestigious institutions and you will see magnificent displays whose very existence is owed to professional collectors.

The tax deduction allowed for fossil donations under US tax law (which is not a government policy) is not “a bid to confront these activities”, but is a long-standing policy having nothing to do with fossils per se. You can donate your Grandpa's spittoon to a museum and get the same write-off. The donation doesn't have to be to a museum: any 501(C-3) non-profit corporation can accept tax-deductible donations.