South African lawyer Roger Chennells spoke to about 50 people yesterday about his efforts to protect the intellectual property of indigenous South African peoples whose traditional knowledge may yield miracle drugs. Chennells discussed the delicate balance between protecting the rights of aboriginal peoples such as the South African San and not allowing the profits that these rights entail to poison their traditional ways of life during his lecture at the Graduate Hall of Studies. Chennells' presentation was the first in the fall 2004 Race, Health and Medicine lecture series, a joint effort of the Department of African-American Studies, the Council on African Studies and the Yale Law School. On behalf of the San, Chennells recently negotiated a settlement with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over patent rights to potential appetite suppressants extracted from Hoodia, which Chennells said is the most promising of a "pharmacy" of traditional remedies. [more
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