Is African Hoodia A Raw Deal For The Owners
Doug Smith

Defined Tag: african hoodia.
A glaring sun pounds the South African plains. A few scrub bushes and succulents can survive here. The arid landscape is disturbed by a mirage-like group of lean runners, darkened by millennia of exposure to the sun. The natives stop near an unremarkable looking bush, and drop their hunting trophies to the ground. Each hunter takes a bite of the juicy leaves. Their hunger and thirst magically gone, they resume their long run home.

This is not a scene from a nature documentary. However, it could very well become a commercial for African hoodia, an increasingly popular weight loss supplement. Native the South African Kalahari desert, the African hoodia bush has been used for centuries to curb the hunger of the San Bushmen on their long food collecting trips. The worldwide craze over Hoodia Gordonii has caused these hoodia pioneers to protest.

Global news coverage has hyped African hoodia as the next miracle weight loss supplement. Unfortunately, drug companies are finding it very difficult to reproduce hoodia's active ingredient in the lab. That means the only real source of hoodia is the plants growing natively in the African desert. The San have lived on these lands for thousands of years, but a kind of hoodia black market has emerged to take their plants.

The appetite suppressing quality of African hoodia gordonii was patented by the CSIR. The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research took this step to help protect the hoodia plant in Africa. There are many laws and restrictions around the world regulating the import and export of hoodia gordonii from Africa. Some countries do not participate in these restrictions, and are selling the African's hoodia illegally.

The San, on whose land hoodia grows, are imploring world governments to enforce laws against the sale of illegal hoodia gordonii. The San are a very self-sufficient people, living off the land. However, they have a financial stake in the sale of their African hoodia. It is only fair that the profit sharing includes them.

These long-time African Kalahari residents discovered hoodia. They first realized that it could suppress the appetite, and have used it for thousands of years for that purpose. The only place that African hoodia grows natively is on land owned by The San. The only way to mass produce hoodia is to create large farms growing hoodia on land that The San already own. The global marketing of hoodia is likely to depend heavily on The San and their simple lifestyle.

Given all that, is it not fair and proper that The San profit more than anyone else from the sale of African hoodia? There are bound to be fake hoodia gordonii products flooding the market. Consumers should only purchase hoodia from official African sources. Remember - if hoodia was discovered on your own land, wouldn't you demand a huge cut of the profits? Sure you would, and that's what The San should get from their ancestral African hoodia.

Copyright 2007 by Doug Smith. All rights reserved worldwide. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.