Hoodia and Greed
March 16th 2008 04:47
If you’re looking for a diet pill these days on the Net, everywhere you go you’ll find talk of hoodia. It’s definitely the flavour of the month, but there are heaps of problems associated with it. Not in terms of side effects, but in terms of actually being able to get the real stuff.
Hoodia is a prime example of the way greed takes over and ruins something that is of value. Pharmaceutical companies, never known for their
willingness to back off from profit, have paid out millions to try and farm hoodia in places other than its natural habitat. But hoodia refuses to be manipulated so readily.
Wisely – I think - the government of South Africa (where hoodia is found) has strictly regulated the exportation of the plant to the rest of the world, requiring a C.I.T.E.S. certificate is required to legally export Hoodia Gordonii from South Africa. C.I.T.E.S. is an international agreement between countries.
Hoodia doesn’t grow very fast – it takes four to five years to mature. Consequently there’s a limited supply. That doesn’t stop countless companies selling ‘hoodia’ even when it isn’t the real thing.
As with so many natural products, it would have been better if the affluent West hadn’t got hold of it. But they have, and as always, Mr and Mrs Affluenza demand, demand, demand. This demand for everything on their own terms will have to change, if oil supply reduces, for instance, and if climate change begins to affect everything we know as ‘normal.’ But it’s going to take some convincing to get most Westerners to change their attitudes.
If they – and I include myself – don’t, it may mean we’ll all go down in a great ugly heap.
Hoodia is a prime example of the way greed takes over and ruins something that is of value. Pharmaceutical companies, never known for their
Hoodia - new growth; photo by Martin Heigan
Wisely – I think - the government of South Africa (where hoodia is found) has strictly regulated the exportation of the plant to the rest of the world, requiring a C.I.T.E.S. certificate is required to legally export Hoodia Gordonii from South Africa. C.I.T.E.S. is an international agreement between countries.
Hoodia doesn’t grow very fast – it takes four to five years to mature. Consequently there’s a limited supply. That doesn’t stop countless companies selling ‘hoodia’ even when it isn’t the real thing.
As with so many natural products, it would have been better if the affluent West hadn’t got hold of it. But they have, and as always, Mr and Mrs Affluenza demand, demand, demand. This demand for everything on their own terms will have to change, if oil supply reduces, for instance, and if climate change begins to affect everything we know as ‘normal.’ But it’s going to take some convincing to get most Westerners to change their attitudes.
If they – and I include myself – don’t, it may mean we’ll all go down in a great ugly heap.
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