“New Obama administration rules aimed at protecting African elephants are causing widespread anxiety in the music world,” says Adam Ragusea in a Monday (4/7) segment on NPR’s “All Things Considered” program. “The proposed regulations would place a near-total ban on anything made with ivory moving in and out of the U.S.,” to stem an “alarming and unprecedented increase in the slaughter of African elephants to supply the global ivory trade.… ‘When the term “import” is used on this ban, it doesn’t just mean commercial activity,’ says Heather Noonan, vice president of advocacy for the League of American Orchestras. ‘It means bringing instruments into the country, even just for personal use, and even if you’re simply returning from work internationally with that instrument.’ ” The proposed ban would affect touring string players whose bows have a piece of ivory attaching the bow hairs to the wood.
Posted April 8, 2014
