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Balance scientific and ethical concerns to achieve a nuanced perspective on ‘blood amber’

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 705–706 (2021)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Myanmar amber has long attracted the scientific interests of palaeontologists owing to a wealth of preserved organisms from a ‘dinosaur-era’ terrestrial ecosystem1,2. However, recently the amber has been dubbed ‘blood amber’, with the connotation that the amber has come at the cost of human lives3. Controversies surrounding the current trade in Myanmar amber and ongoing military conflicts in the region led the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) in 2020 to appeal to all scientists and journals to boycott the palaeontological study of amber from Myanmar4. Following this, several journals have imposed bans or severe restrictions on the publishing of amber research5. We argue here that nuance has been missing from the debate and oppose outright international bans on the study of Myanmar amber.

Myanmar amber has a 2,000-year history of exploitation6,7. Similar to ruby and jade, amber miners apply for governmental permits to explore for and extract it, and for the last several decades, materials have been sold at the biannual Myanmar Gems Emporium2. Given ethical concerns regarding the amber and the recent military coup (1 February 2021) that has exacerbated the nation’s continuing crisis8, it is proper to cease acquisition of amber until resolution within Myanmar is reached, but to continue the study of those collections already resident in institutional collections throughout the world9. Concern that collections outside of Myanmar are illegal10 is contradicted by the reality that it is Myanmar itself that allows for the mining of amber and its international sale under legal permits11, and that these laws seemingly fail to classify amber as a ‘fossil’ or make a clear distinction between the amber and what is contained therein. Scientific study as fossil material has only ever been undertaken after the ‘gemstone’ (Myanmar’s own legal classification of amber11) is legally traded, and its subsequent designation as scientific fossil material outside of Myanmar is independent of Myanmar law. Moreover, these cries of protest seem hollow and hypocritical given that there is no comparable concern for specimens resulting from colonial plunder or collected in more questionably legal contexts.

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Fig. 1: ‘Blood amber’ from Myanmar.

Shuo Wang

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31801022, 31701090) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (grant no. ZR2019BC094).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Science and Biological Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China

    Chao Shi, Hao-hong Cai, Ri-xin Jiang & Shuo Wang

  2. Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Chao Shi & Hua Peng

  3. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Michael S. Engel

  4. Shanghai World Expo Museum, Shanghai, China

    Ji Yuan

  5. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Ming Bai

  6. Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Ding Yang

  7. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China

    Chun-lin Long

  8. College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China

    Zun-tian Zhao

  9. South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Dian-xiang Zhang

  10. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xian-chun Zhang

  11. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Yong-dong Wang

  12. School of Environment, Earth, and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Robert A. Spicer

  13. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China

    Robert A. Spicer

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  1. Chao Shi
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Contributions

S.W., M.S.E., D.-X.Z., X.-C.Z., H.P., Y.-D.W. and R.A.S. conceived the idea and drafted the initial manuscript, with contributions from all other authors. All authors jointly revised the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shuo Wang, Dian-xiang Zhang, Xian-chun Zhang, Hua Peng, Yong-dong Wang or Robert A. Spicer.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Zin-Maung-Maung-Thein and Paul Barrett for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Shi, C., Cai, Hh., Jiang, Rx. et al. Balance scientific and ethical concerns to achieve a nuanced perspective on ‘blood amber’. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 705–706 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01479-z

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