Is Hoodia Gordonii legal is the US and if so, is it available in a
reliable, high quality form?

Dear linzmortimer-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting question.

There appears to be no legal restrictions on Hoodia Gardonii, a
derivative of a South African cactus plant that is more commonly being
used in some areas as an appetite suppressant. Since the substance is
marketed as a diet supplement rather than a drug there really isn?t
much control exerted over the product.

In my research I found a number of sources, some may be more reliable
that others but a few of them just looked a little suspicious from the
very beginning. One of the things to look out for is a poorly done web
page and English text that is not considered good grammar. These are
immediate red flags for just about any product because it tells me
that the advertisement was set up in haste without professional
consultation ? something many foreign, fly-by-night companies often
do.

I found a company in Delaware that is marketing the product under the
name HOODOBA. If I were in your shoes I?d feel much safer doing
business with a domestic company rather than a foreign one.

HOODOBA
http://www.hoodia-dietpills.com/


Hoodia-DietPills.com
40 E. Main Street, # 357
Newark, DE 19711, USA
Phone: US/Canada Toll Free: 1-800-777-4914 
International Callers: 1-410-392-0477

CONTACT http://www.hoodia-dietpills.com/contact.htm


There are also some relatively controlled distributorship programs
that require affiliates to meet certain criteria. A couple of them
even rate other distributors for price, fairness and reliability:

THE HOODIA FACTOR
http://www.thehoodiafactor.com/

This NEWSTARGET article (?CONSUMER ALERT: CON ARTISTS SELL COUNTERFEIT
HOODIA GORDONII AS BOGUS WEIGHT LOSS PILLS?
http://www.thehoodiafactor.com/newstarget.htm ) makes some
recommendations to help people keep from being ripped off or keep them
from buying substandard products:

?How to know who to trust?

?Based on my investigation, there are only a few sources of hoodia I
currently recommend:

PURE HOODIA
http://www.purehoodia.com/

HOODIA SOURCE
http://www.hoodiasource.com/

TRIM SPA
http://www.trimspa.com/



I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher


OTHER INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINES USED:

Google ://www.google.com




SEARCH TERMS USED:

Hoodia  gordonii

Hoodoba

Legal

Illegal

Reliable

Complaints

Pure

Supplement

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Request for Answer Clarification by linzmortimer-ga on 19 Mar 2005 17:15 PST

Why do you think Pure Hoodia, Hoodia Source and Trim Spa are "reliable
and honest" sources?  Also, just because a company is located in
Delaware doesn't mean it's "reliable and honest". I too have
researched Hoodia on Google and decided I couldn't rely on my
judgement to inform me of the legitimacy of what I saw there. I'm
searching for something more concrete in the way of recommendation.
Can you give me any further FACTS, that can be proven, on hoodia
sources?  Maybe this type of assurance does not exist.  If so, I would
like to know that for a fact.  Maybe all seller's of Hoodia are
charletans from the get go.  Is there proof that any of these
suppliers and products are legitimate?

Thanks Again

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Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 19 Mar 2005 18:51 PST

You will note the this statement is in quotations:

?How to know who to trust?

?Based on my investigation, there are only a few sources of hoodia I
currently recommend..."

The statement (and as such, the recommendation) are not mine, but come
from a published source as I indicated.

NEWSTARGET
?CONSUMER ALERT: CON ARTISTS SELL COUNTERFEIT HOODIA GORDONII AS BOGUS
WEIGHT LOSS PILLS?
http://www.thehoodiafactor.com/newstarget.htm

The best anyone could hope to do is to provide information based on
their research. My research indicated that the three sources mentioned
are recognized by this publication as worthy above others. Beyond this
it seems that you are also wanting to know if Hoodia Gordonii does
what it's distributors says it does. This is probably something only a
chemist and several trials could prove or dispove for certain.

What I managed to do is to research what has been publicly said of the
product. That was the information I provided. As of yet, there appears
to be very little derogatory information about the product and it's
distributors. This may or may not change - in time we may be singing
their praises or condemning them as sellers of snake oils. Given the
newness of the product that result remains to be seen.

tutuzdad-ga

This is a deficient answer because I was easily able to gather as much
information myself in a few minutes online (doing a google search.)

I have tried Hoodia and yes it does curb your appetite. The only
problem I found is that I don't need to be hungry to eat. I do it more
out of habit. Here is a direct link to the product.
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=DTFWRTFst6c&offerid=59379.22318&type=2&subid=0

This is helpful.  Thank you slovatt.

To read full report go to: http://www.newstarget.com/006016.html

Truth Publishing can now reveal the details of an exhaustive
investigation into what may be the largest Hoodia Gordonii supplement
scam operating in North America: the Pure Hoodia, Inc. company. In
this exclusive Truth Publishing report, you'll learn how:


Pure Hoodia, Inc. is selling counterfeit hoodia as verified by
independent lab testing (actual documents revealed below).
Pure Hoodia, Inc. is failing to fill their capsules with the promised
quantity of powder. Our tests on a digital scale showed that capsules
from the PureHoodia.com company contained only 290mg of powder, not
400mg. (Actual digital scale results and photos shown below.)
Pure Hoodia, Inc. has sought to steal intellectual property from a
competing hoodia company by attempting to preemptively register /
steal its trademark and product name. (Documents shown below.)
Pure Hoodia, Inc. has stolen Truth Publishing content, modified the
text, and posted a distorted version on their own website in an
attempt to mislead readers into believing that Newstarget.com solely
and exclusively recommends their product, which is absolutely not the
case.
Pure Hoodia, Inc. operates out of a Nevada corporation set up and run
by individuals who operate hundreds of small Nevada corporations, most
likely for lawsuit protection reasons.
Pure Hoodia, Inc. operates several companies and brands of Hoodia,
including the Hoodonii and Slimtron product lines, which are
advertised and promoted as separate companies, but are actually owned
and controlled by the same people.
Pure Hoodia, Inc. operates a series of fake "consumer comparison"
websites that deceive consumers into purchasing their "top-rated"
products, which are always products owned or controlled by the Pure
Hoodia, Inc. operators.

I too use this and it DOES WORK! But, you must understand it will NOT
stop you from eating...it just takes away the hunger.

If you eat, you still can overeat.

Also, many of the Hoodia is mixed w/other herbs for some added
benefits, I would recommen that you only consider 100% Hoodia.

My source is:
http://www.hoodia-diets.info

I have tried it, and it really works. No side effects yet.. I always
eat until I'm full, with Hoodia it just happens earlier.