Bushmen Cry Foul Over Hoodia Trade - OhmyNews International: "Bushmen Cry Foul Over Hoodia Trade
South African tribesmen accuse Germany of illegally selling products from the desert plant

Southern Africa's earliest inhabitants -- the San Bushmen -- are urging the governments of Switzerland, Germany, and South Africa to act against the illegal sale of products from the desert plant Hoodia gordonii.

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While the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) stipulates that indigenous groups be given a share of the profits from the commercial use of local genetic resources and traditional knowledge, the San are yet to benefit from the many Hoodia products that are being sold in Germany and Switzerland.

The San people, romanticized as hunters-gatherers, are found in Namibia, South Africa, Angola, and Botswana. 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.

The plant was, however, patented in 1996 by South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and licensed for further development to a British company, which in turn sold additional licenses to drug company Pfizer, and later to Unilever. "