11.01.04
A United Nations conference approved a proposal by African countries to control trade in a rare plant sought hungrily by drug companies for its appetite-suppressing properties. The hoodia cactus in question has been used for thousands of years by southern Africa’s San Bushmen to dampen their appetites during long treks through the harsh Kalahari desert and holds the key to potentially lucrative anti-obesity drugs. The Convention on International Trades in Endangered Species listed the hoodia plant in its Appendix II, which will regulate global trade in the species, at the behest of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. It also adopted a Chinese and United States proposal to put Asian yew trees, which provide the compound for one of the world’s top-selling chemotherapy drugs, in the same appendix.
—Borsa Italiana, 10/8/04
—Borsa Italiana, 10/8/04
