The CITES Certificate: One Key to Finding Pure Hoodia Gordonii

Anyone who has considered hoodia diet pills and has done any research on them has read about the importance of looking for a CITES certificate to identify authentic hoodia gordonii. I often wonder if people even understand what the certificate is and why it so important to look for one. If you have a basic understanding of what a CITES certificate is and what its role is within the hoodia trade, you’ll know why looking for one is so important when trying to find authentic hoodia gordonii.

The hoodia gordonii plant is a protected plant that is in high demand. This cactus looking plant used to only grow in the wilds of South Africa. However, the increased demand for the plant, because of its weight loss properties, has prompted many people to begin farming the plant. This led South Africa to put regulations on the plant. Regulations that not only would protect the plant, but the San people who claim it as their native plant. There are controls in place that now regulate the growing, harvesting and exportation of the hoodia gordonii plant.

CITES certificates are one of the basic controls put in place to protect the endangered hoodia plant. There are other documents that are required as well, but for the purposes of this article I’ll only address the CITES certificate. CITES refers to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is an international agreement between governments. Their goal is to ensure that international trade does not threaten the survival of endangered species.

What this means is for someone to come in and export hoodia gordonii out of South Africa, they must first get a permit from CITES. Export permits from CITES must accompany all shipments of hoodia gordonii out of South Africa. It’s important to understand that these export permits are only good for six months. The permit holder must export the plant out within six months, or they must reapply and start the process over and obtain a new CITES permit.

This is important to understand because there is some confusion in the hoodia industry about the dates shown on CITES permits. People are led to believe that CITES permits must be “current” in order to be valid, otherwise they don’t mean anything. They mistakenly believe that if the CITES certificate is older than six months the company must be lying or must be trying to pull a fast one on the consumer. In some instances an “old” CITES certificate may be just that, but it is not necessarily the rule.

It is not uncommon to see outdated CITES permits. If someone ships in a large quantity of hoodia gordonii, they may still have some of the plant on hand even though their CITES permit has expired. The CITES permit stays with the product until it is all gone. The permit only proves the product that was shipped was authentic hoodia gordonii. It doesn’t have anything to do with how long it may sit at a supplier once it has been exported.

Another point to keep in mind is that the company or supplier shown on a CITES certificate doesn’t always match the name of the company selling the actual end product. For example, you may be interested in buying a hoodia supplement from “Helen’s Health Company” so you go to their website and you view their CITES certificate. Everything checks out except you notice the supplier shown on the permit is a company called, “Supplier Incorporated.” Shouldn’t the company listed on the permit be Helen’s Health Company? Not always.

Supplement companies get their hoodia from supply companies. Suppliers are the companies that actually go in, obtain the CITES permits and export the hoodia gordonii out of South Africa. The country is selective on giving out CITES permits and they limit the number of exports. It only makes sense that supplement companies would use a supplier to obtain their hoodia gordonii. That is why you may see a name other that the company you are purchasing your products from listed on the CITES permit.

You should know that just because a website displays a CITES certificate doesn’t guarantee that they are packing their capsules with 100% pure hoodia gordonii. Since all hoodia products are supplements and supplements are not regulated, some companies make claims about their products that aren’t true. Just because a company has a CITES permit doesn’t mean they are packaging their hoodia in a way that is beneficial to weight loss. In other words, a CITES permit should not be a green light for you to assume the product that is being sold is pure hoodia gordonii.

That is not always true. Keep in mind that the only thing a CITES permit proves is that a supplier was given the right to export “X amount” of hoodia gordonii from South Africa. Once the supply is exported, the supplier and any company purchasing hoodia from the supplier can do what they want with the hoodia gordonii. A company may claim they are selling a hoodia diet pill that contains 500mg of authentic hoodia gordonii, and while they may have a CITES certificate for the supply they purchased, they may not use a full 500mg in each capsule! They may only use 250mg or 150mg or whatever may be the case.

Now that you have a better understanding of what the CITES certificate is and what its role is, you know why looking for one is important when trying to find authentic hoodia gordonii diet pills and products.