One of the frustrating things about working in this area of nature conservation is the sheer amount of ignorant numbskull nonsense written about ragwort. I got a message last night about a comment written on Facebook by Yvette ter Meulen who according to her profile works for Ruiteren & Mennen who have a shameful, discrediting screed about ragwort on their website about which I have blogged before.
I have a small gap in my timetable today so I thought it would be a good thing to write my honest opinions about. I have a backlog of quite a few things to write about such as English Nature telling people to wear protective clothing before touching dock leaves! ( They are on the same list of plants which were designated as poor for agriculture as practiced in the 1920s), but those will have to wait.
However, this one is so egregious and likely to spread that it needs to be combated.
This is the comment from Yvette ter Meulen. JKK is Jacobskruiskruid which is the Dutch word for Ragwort.
But oh boy what was Yvette ter Meulen smoking? Was she writing this from an Amsterdam coffee shop or something? The idea that ragwort contains hallucinogens is just simply crazy. I suspect it is a stupid misunderstanding of the word alkaloid, but when it comes to ragwort hysteria who knows.
Unfortunately this is the kind of nonsense that passes for fact and gets passed around and even published in magazines. As I have said before there is nonsense around that I could blog about daily and this is unfortunately all too typical and remember it seems her employers are just as bad so it is no wonder she talks nonsense.
I have a small gap in my timetable today so I thought it would be a good thing to write my honest opinions about. I have a backlog of quite a few things to write about such as English Nature telling people to wear protective clothing before touching dock leaves! ( They are on the same list of plants which were designated as poor for agriculture as practiced in the 1920s), but those will have to wait.
However, this one is so egregious and likely to spread that it needs to be combated.
This is the comment from Yvette ter Meulen. JKK is Jacobskruiskruid which is the Dutch word for Ragwort.
Van paarden is inmiddels bekend dat sommigen de groene rozetten van Jkk wel eten. Dat zou te maken kunnen hebben met een het feit dat de plant hallucinogenen bevat, die mogelijk een verslavende werking hebben. Net als drugs bij mensen.and it translates as
It is now known that some horses eat the green rosettes of ragwort. This could be due to the fact that the plant contains hallucinogens, which may have an addictive effect. Just like drugs in peopleNow let's get this straight .The scientific literature is clear poisoning is a problem with ragwort in hay ONLY.
But oh boy what was Yvette ter Meulen smoking? Was she writing this from an Amsterdam coffee shop or something? The idea that ragwort contains hallucinogens is just simply crazy. I suspect it is a stupid misunderstanding of the word alkaloid, but when it comes to ragwort hysteria who knows.
Unfortunately this is the kind of nonsense that passes for fact and gets passed around and even published in magazines. As I have said before there is nonsense around that I could blog about daily and this is unfortunately all too typical and remember it seems her employers are just as bad so it is no wonder she talks nonsense.
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