San Call on Gov't to Stop Illegal Sale of Hoodia 

 

The San community has called on the governments of South Africa, Switzerland and Germany to stop the illegal and unscrupulous sale of products made from the hoodia plant.

The indigenous plant has traditionally been used by the San as an appetite suppressant and is currently being developed by Unilever, a consumer goods company, into an anti-obesity drug. The San have signed two profit-sharing agreements for hoodia, but neither has yielded any revenue for the community.

Roger Chennells, a lawyer for the South African San Institute, says the patent rights for hoodia are owned by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the San have six percent right to the royalty based on the intellectual property which is their traditional knowledge.

The San are protected by law, but Chennells says "there are free-loaders who have jumped on the bandwagon of the knowledge that hoodia is the only organic and safe appetite suppressant known in the world”. Chennells says there are products in the market which do not contain hoodia, but claim they do.

SA government asked to protect hoodia

Chennells urged the government to talk to US and European governments to make sure that the products that are flooding their markets are scrutinised. Chennells says government must ensure that hoodia does not get a bad name from other products which claim to be hoodia.

Chennells says there are products which have real hoodia but are obtaining it illegaly by poaching or stealing from farms in the Northern Cape. In certain parts of the province hoodia has become extinct.

 

Reference: SabcNews

 

If you are clueless on how to shop for real hoodia gordonii, read my checklist.