The real thing: a CITES
certificate
In South Africa, this
authorization is provided by a CITES certificate. Hoodia
gordonii was added to the CITES schedule during a 2004
meeting in Bangkok. The official CITES listing for hoodia
now reads:
Botswana , Namibia , and South
Africa submitted a proposal to the 14th Conference of the
Parties of CITES to list all species of Hoodia on
Appendix II. This proposal was accepted in January 2005
and it is now prohibited to trade in any parts and
derivatives of any Hoodia species without a permit. A
permit can only be obtained from the relevant permitting
authorities of each country and can only be issued for
trade in cultivated plants or wild plants where the trade
can be shown not to have a detrimental effect on wild
populations (a CITES non-detriment finding). The listing
of Hoodia makes provision for exemption from CITES
permits where traders participate in controlled
harvesting and production systems in collaboration with
the CITES Management Authorities of
Botswana/Namibia/South Africa, but no such agreements are
yet in place. Importing countries must ensure that a
valid CITES export permit has been issued by the country
of origin for any trade.
Because all genuine hoodia
gordonii exported from South Africa must have a CITES
certificate, the display of such a certificate by hoodia
resellers is one of the ways consumers can confirm the
authenticity of the product.
See a CITES certificate on
the
DesertBurn website. Desert Burn also
displays the sellers license and growers license, providing the
most documentation of all hoodia resellers in the United
States.
Click here to read more about their
products
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