Center for Wood Anatomy Research, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, United States of America.
Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 25;14(7):e0219917. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219917. eCollection 2019.
Fraud and misrepresentation in forest products supply chains is often associated with illegal logging, but the extent of fraud in the U.S. forest products market, and the availability of forensic expertise to detect it, is unknown. We used forensic wood anatomy to test 183 specimens from 73 consumer products acquired from major U.S. retailers, surveyed U.S. experts regarding their forensic wood anatomy capacity, and conducted a proficiency-testing program of those experts. 62% of tested products (45 of 73) had one or more type of fraudulent or misrepresented claim. Survey respondents reported a total capacity of 830 wood specimens per year, and participants' identification accuracy ranged from 6% to 92%. Given the extent of fraud and misrepresentation, U.S. wood forensic wood anatomy capacity does not scale with the need for such expertise. We call for increased training in forensic wood anatomy and its broader application in forest products supply chains to eliminate fraud and combat illegal logging.
木材伪造和虚假陈述通常与非法采伐有关，但美国林产品市场上伪造的程度以及检测这种伪造的法医专业知识的可用性尚不清楚。我们使用法医木材解剖学测试了从美国主要零售商处购买的 73 种消费品中的 183 个样本，调查了美国专家在法医木材解剖学方面的能力，并对这些专家进行了能力验证测试。62%的测试产品（73 个中有 45 个）存在一种或多种伪造或虚假陈述的情况。调查对象报告的木材样本总容量为每年 830 个，参与者的识别准确率从 6%到 92%不等。鉴于伪造和虚假陈述的程度，美国木材法医木材解剖学的能力与对这种专业知识的需求不成比例。我们呼吁增加法医木材解剖学的培训，并更广泛地将其应用于林产品供应链，以消除欺诈行为，打击非法采伐。
