Will Bushmen get a share of Slimming Drug Profits?
South African Bushmen in negotiations to protect their ownership of indigenous knowledge
South African San Bushmen are negotiating to share in profits from the development of a slimming drug based on their traditional appetite supressant made from the local Hoodia gordonii plant. What a box of teeth discovered in a basement can tell us about nuclear fallout. Plus, tracking migration paths of fish, the origin of fleas and their connection to human migration, and the annual Leonid meteor shower.
NOTE: In 2002, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research acknowledged the San Bushmen's rights over the Hoodia gordonii plant, giving them a share in any profits. However, Pfizer released the rights to the primary ingredient in 2002. A clinical trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2011 found it ineffective as a weight-loss drug.
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