SOUTH AFRICA: PHARMACEUTICAL GIANT PFIZER TO MAKE HOODIA DIET PILLS, BASED ON HOODIA PLANT WHICH SAN PEOPLE USE AS FOOD SUBSTITUTE DURING HUNTING
Record ID:
837911
SOUTH AFRICA: PHARMACEUTICAL GIANT PFIZER TO MAKE HOODIA DIET PILLS, BASED ON HOODIA PLANT WHICH SAN PEOPLE USE AS FOOD SUBSTITUTE DURING HUNTING
- Title: SOUTH AFRICA: PHARMACEUTICAL GIANT PFIZER TO MAKE HOODIA DIET PILLS, BASED ON HOODIA PLANT WHICH SAN PEOPLE USE AS FOOD SUBSTITUTE DURING HUNTING
- Date: 7th April 2003
- Summary: (L!1) KALAHARI DESERT, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT)(REUTERS) HANS KORTMAN AND OTHER SAN MEN TREKKING THROUGH DESERT VARIOUS OF SAN MAN CUTTING HOODIA PLANT AS KORTMAN EATS SOME (SOUNDBITE)(Nama) KORTMANN SAYING "My forefathers taught me to eat the hoodia plant. It's my food, it's my water and it's also my medicine." PEOPLE HARVESTING HOODIA PLANT (L!1) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) TECHNICIAN OPERATING MACHINERY IN LABORATORY (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) SAN LAWYER, SAN ROGER CHENNELS SAYING "In 2000 a news story broke in Europe, that Pfizer was working on a new drug that was about to be patented and the press started doing research on it. At some point a comment was made that the San from whom the knowledge had originated or who had told Pfizer about the knowledge, were extinct." LABORATORY EXTERIOR VARIOUS OF LABORATORY (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH COUNCIL OFFICIAL, DR PETRO TERBLANCHE SAYING "The fact that our discussions with the San people started only later in 2000, in 2001 was because of the fact we were never sure when to start discussions and negotiations, and also we didn't have a vehicle, it wasn't a formal body that we could actually work with." VARIOUS OF ROGER CHENNELS FLIPPING THROUGH BOOK BY SHELF (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAN LAWYER ROGER CHENNELS SAYING "Clearly, CSIR and the parties that were receiving the money would not want to have handed over a large percentage, bearing in mind international precedents and other examples. Because whatever gets set here could become a benchmark for future sharing." SUPERMARKET INTERIOR DIET PILLS ON SHELF DISPLAY (L!1) KALAHARI DESERT, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT)(REUTERS) HANS KORTMAN WALKING THROUGH GRASS (SOUNDBITE) (Afrikaans) SAN COUNCIL CHAIRMAN, PETRUS VAALBOOI SAYING "The time has come for us to stand up and say our say, and do our thing because if you want something, you must stand up and go get it. That's what we're doing now. And we plead for our government to now look at us, so that they can see we exist." VARIOUS OF BOY SCRAPING SURFACE OF HOODIA PLANT (L!1) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT)(REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAN LAWYER, ROGER CHENNELS LAWYER FOR SAN SAYING "And if some terrible discovery is made that this drug is in fact dangerous to humankind, that is not impossible, it could happen, this whole thing could just collapse. So we're not counting our chickens at this point." (L!1) NORTHERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT)(REUTERS) HOODIA PLANT DESERT PLANTATION HOODIA PLANT MEN PLANTING HOODIA PLANT SEEDLINGS MAN HAND CARRYING HOODIA SEEDLINGS SEEDLING BEING PLANTED
- Embargoed: 22nd April 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KALAHARI DESERT, JOHANNESBURG AND NORTHERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
- City:
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Environment,Health,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAC58LW2HQDI5W6E0BLI0W01XC9
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: The world's oldest culture may soon revolutionise
modern day dieting for centuries, the San people of Southern
Africa have lived on the "Hoodia" plant during hunting
periods, going for days without food or water after eating the
plant.
Now pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is set to start producing
dietary pills from Hoodia.
Hans Kortman is San, and he knows the Kalahari Desert
like the palm of his hand. His people, believed to be one of
the world's most ancient culture, have lived in this desert
since time immemorial.
There are less than 100,000 San still alive and they live
by hunting, and gathering plants. Water is precious in this
baking heat and a hunt can last up to a week, so they eat this
root, hoodia or Xoba as it is locally known.
"My forefathers taught me to eat the hoodia plant." Hans
Koortman says, " It's my food, it's my water and it's also my
medicine."
It sounds like the magic ingredient for the diet pill
industry.
Thirty years ago, South Africa's Council for Scientific
Research started working to isolate the active compound.
Once they had, they patented it as their own. And they
sold the rights to Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical, who wants to
sell it as the new revolutionary drug in the fight against
obesity.
What they didn't do was tell the San. They found out by
sheer coincidence through their lawyer, Roger Chennels who
read it in the press.
"In 2000 a news story broke in Europe that Pfizer was
working on a new drug that was about to be patented and the
press started doing research." He explained, "At some point a
comment was made that the San from whom the knowledge had
originated or who had told Pfizer about the knowledge, were
extinct."
The San were understandably upset. The new patent holders
said that they simply didn't know how to contact them.
"The fact that our discussions with the San people started
only later in 1999, in 2000, in 2001 was because of the fact
we were never sure when to start negotiations and discussions,
and also we didn't have a vehicle, it wasn't a formal body
that we could actually work with." argues Dr Petro Terblanche
of the South African Research Council.
But they insist that they were committed to doing the
right thing with the San. It was a tough process.
"Clearly, CSIR and the parties that were receiving the
money would not have wanted to have handed over a large
percentage, bearing in mind international precedents and other
examples. Because whatever gets set here could become a
benchmark for future sharing." stated Roger Chennels
If approved, the drug has potential to be a runaway
success -- the diet market is estimated at more than 3 billion
U.S dollars in the US alone.
The San may be looking at millions a year in milestone and
royalty fees, as early as next year, sorely needed resources
for this marginalised community.
"The time has come for us to stand up and say our say, and
do our thing because if you want something, you must stand up
and go get it," said Petrus Vaalbooi the Chairman of the San
Council, "That's what we're doing now. And we plead for our
government to now look at us, so that they can see we exist."
But for all these high expectations of what the hoodia
plant can do for the San, it still has to be tested and
approved by the American Food and Drug Administration, and
first sales are expected only in 2008.
That's not all.
"And if some terrible discovery is made that this drug is
in fact dangerous to humankind, that is not impossible, it
could happen, this whole thing could just collapse." warns
Roger Chennels, "So we're not counting our chickens at this
point."
But here at this hoodia plantation at a secret location
somewhere in South Africa, Pfizer is leaving nothing to chance,
they have already spent 400 million US dollars into hoodia
research.
These precious seedlings were germinated at a different
location and transported here for planting.
For the San this has been a wild ride in the world of
money, a knowledge that they so freely shared with others has
undergone a metamorphosis they can hardly recognise.
Nigel Crawhall works closely with the San in the Kalahari
and he remembers the first reactions from the San when they
heard that the hoodia was going to be made into a medicine.
"First of all, people were a bit shocked," he says. "Why
would anybody want to lose weight by taking the hoodia plant
because it's meant for when you're travelling across the
desert, so people thought that it was a bit weird in the first
place, but you know, whatever, somebody wants to lose weight,
that's one way."
The San are used to being passed over, they were used as
trackers in the Apartheid era war against Namibian freedom
fighters, and were dumped in camps like this one after it was
done.
Alcoholism is rife, unemployment endemic and social
services non-existent.
The irony is not lost on the San, their existence
revolves around a daily search for food and water.
Yet now they seem to be the only ones able to help those
with too much to eat. But for Petrus Vaalbooi, the end
justifies the means.
"We can't continue be grateful for handouts for as long as
live. It is time for us to look after our people, by using
the little modern and scientific knowledge we have learned, to
look after our own." He says.
It's a world first in many ways. A people, almost
forgotten, finally cashing in on their ancient knowledge and
the recognition of that knowledge as important to help cure
modern ills. Hopefully this plant will help in making the
lives of the San better too. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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