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Africa's Bushmen May Get Rich
From Diet-Drug Secret - Hoodia
Leon Marshall in
Johannesburg
for National Geographic News
April 16, 2003
The wheel of fortune could be turning for
southern Africa's San, or Bushmen.
Sidelined over
decades because of their dwindling numbers and ancient way of life,
the San have been reduced to a few struggling communities living on
the fringes of society. But now their traditional knowledge may be
their salvation; they stand to make a lot of money—and gain much
respect—from the international marketing of an appetite-suppressant
they have been using for thousands of generations.
The drug named P57 is
based on a substance scientists found in the desert plant Hoodia
gordinii. The San call the cactus !khoba and have been
chewing on it for thousands of years to stave off hunger and thirst
during long hunting trips in their parched Kalahari desert home.
A deal has been
signed between the South African San Council and the country's
Scientific and Industrial Research Council (CSIR), which identified
the appetite-suppressing ingredient in Hoodia during research
into indigenous plants in 1996. At a small ceremony recently held in
the Kalahari desert near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which
South Africa shares with Botswana, the San and the CSIR made a deal
to share royalties earned by commercial sale of the San's ancient
knowledge of the plant.
The overly nourished
millions of people in the developed world spend billions of dollars
a year on preparations and remedies to combat obesity. Effective new
products that help shed weight are always in high demand.
Children danced and
sang as members of the San community watched their leaders sign the
deal. The chairman of the San Council, Petrus Vaalbooi, said, "We
are thankful that the traditional knowledge of our forefathers is
acknowledged by this important agreement, and that we are making it
known to the world. As San leaders we are determined to protect all
aspects of our heritage."
The landmark deal
signed by the San could blaze the trail for indigenous communities
elsewhere in the world. Many traditional cultures have ancient
knowledge of the healing powers of plants—intellectual property that
is often not recognized, let alone protected for commercial gain.
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