The 60 Minutes Report on Hoodia Gordonii
On Sunday November 21st, 2004 at 7p.m. 60 minutes, the famous investigative television program, aired on CBS revealed the wonder weight loss plant – Hoodia Gordonii, to the world.
Lesley Stahl, the 60 minute correspondent who did the show on Hoodia Gordonii, went into the desert, in search of this weight loss miracle from the desert. Toppies Kruiper, was the local aboriginal bushman hired to help the 60 minutes crew find Hoodia Gordonii. After locating the plant, Kruiper cut off a stalk, which had an appearance of a small spiky pickle, and removed the sharp spines. Lesley Stahl, ate it describing its texture as somewhat cucumbery.
The cucumbery feeling was not all that she experienced after eating the plant. Lo and behold! Lesley Stahl did not feel hungry all day. Neither did she feel any side effects like a funny taste in the mouth, an uneasy stomach, nor any racing heart-beats. She lost her appetite and also did not feel like drinking any water. Stahl’s comment on this effect - “I’d have to say it did workâ€.
The show also opened up the issue of neglect of the San People’s right to profits from the export of the Hoodia Gordonii. Since that time the show was aired, lawyers have started to look into how the San people’s right can be protected. They have come to broker a deal for them so they will get a share of the profits from Hoodia Gordonii exports. The show closed with a look at the future of Hodia Gordonii. When Lesley spoke to a representative from Phytopharm, the company that holds a patent on the P57 ingredient derived from the Hoodia plant, she learnt that the company was going to market a Hoodia weight loss product in a couple of years. It was getting into contract with farms in South Africa that will grow the Hoodia. Lesley visited one of these Hoodia farms growing Hoodia for export. After tasting the Hoodia plant in the farm, she commented that it tasted bitterer than the other Hoodia she had sampled. The agronomist on the farm said that they were still learning to grow Hoodia in farms as it was a plant that grew naturally in the desert wild. They will be facing many challenges in their assignment to grow Hoodia as crops in fields for the purpose of export, but will definitely come out successfully to give the world a side effect free weight loss drug.
Leave a Reply