San/ Pfizer Benefit Sharing Agreement

MAIN SITE: africahistory.net

MULTIMEDIA SITE: gloriaemeagwali.com

The agreement between the attorneys of the San of Southern Africa and the transnational pharmaceutical company Pfizer in 2005 was a good start. For centuries the scientific knowledge and intellectual systems of the people of Africa and elsewhere had been tapped  -with very little recognition  from  their beneficiaries in the Western World. The appetite suppressant marketed as ‘Hoodia’ now sold in the U.S. market was derived from the Hoodia plant which the San have used for centuries- for the same purpose.This time around there was some compensation – for a change.