Operating in a legal vacuum, researchers and corporations historically have laid claim to indigenous resources without compensating communities or obtaining their consent. Long before issues of traditional knowledge emerged for debate in global arenas like the World Trade Organization, colonial botanists cataloged vast amounts of traditional knowledge, which is now available to anyone, says Rachel Wynberg, a Cape Town researcher on biodiversity issues.

Even now, rich countries have resisted demands from the developing world that traditional knowledge be recognized under international patent laws. And while the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes the need for stronger regulatory mechanisms, many developing countries rich in biodiversity have yet to pass their own laws protecting biological and indigenous resources.

Meanwhile, Mvubu at the Faraday Market says he has stopped speaking to scientists because he mistrusts their motives.

In a major breakthrough earlier this year, however, CSIR announced an agreement with the San of the Kalahari Desert to share in the profits of a potential blockbuster weight-loss drug.

In 1996, CSIR scientists discovered and patented appetite-suppressing chemicals found in the succulent desert plant hoodia. For untold years, the San chewed on hoodia to relieve hunger during long hunting trips.

With hoodia, scientists hoped to "put South Africa on the map as a supplier of international drugs," Horak says. The CSIR licensed P57 -- the plant's appetite-suppressing ingredient -- to a British company, Phytopharm, which in turn licensed pharmacological giant Pfizer to further develop and market the drug. When the South African San Council, an indigenous-rights group, got wind of the deal, it fought for the San to share in profits from the drug -- since it was their knowledge that led scientists to the discovery in the first place.

The case sparked an international scandal, but Horak insists that CSIR always intended to recognize the San's contribution.

"We've proven the potential for bioprospecting to translate into benefits to communities," Horak says.

Just how much the San will benefit financially remains to be seen, however. Pfizer recently pulled out of the deal, and any drug that may yet be developed from hoodia is still years away.

Wynberg says she doubts the San or any other indigenous groups ever will see much benefit from bioprospecting, given the projects' complexity.

"Even if hoodia does succeed, it's unique," she says. "One in 10,000 projects may yield some kind of promising lead ... so maybe in South Africa there will be one other."