I recently returned from attending a scientific symposium in the English language in the Netherlands. It was a very very enjoyable experience. I was primarily there to listen and learn. There is always more to learn about this subject even after more than two decades of detailed study and it was fascinating
However, being British there were a few things I could help with during discussions. At one point one of the scientists put up on the screen a newspaper article in Dutch mentioning the old false story, from the British Horse Society, that 6,500 horses were dying a year in the UK of ragwort poisoning. As I have mentioned before I am learning Dutch and I have a bit knack for languages so I could read at least some of it.
During the question session after that talk I explained how this figure was calculated. They contacted many many equine vets, they didn't check to see if more than one vet in a practice responded so there may have been duplicate cases, they talked about confirmed cases when there isn't a test that can confirm them, and they got a tiny number of responses, just a handful in percentage terms without looking it up I think it was 4%.. Then they multiplied that figure as if everyone had answered!
Of course I got a laugh! Professional scientists know how to treat data and this is obvious fakery. Yet this crooked and fraudulent science has informed public and political opinion.
There was a discussion session at the end and DEFRA the government department that covers part of the UK came up. So I explained, "DEFRA get their risk statistics from the man who said it (ragwort) is poisoning the Cinnabar Moth."
It got another laugh! Of course, it is nonsense but the man who said it has been influencing government.
Ragwort is the main foodplant of the moth and as we had been told earlier in a fascinating talk it needs the alkaloids in the plant for the adult moth to find the plant and lay its eggs and for the caterpillars to be stimulated to eat!
As I have said before Professor Derek Knottenbelt is the person behind this story and it is beyond ludicrous. It is nuttier than squirrel droppings!. Here is the quote from a horse care book.
`I would not normally advocate the eradication of any species, but this one has nothing to offer. I don't accept that eradicating ragwort would eradicate the Cinnabar Moth, which feeds on it. Ragwort is burgeoning and the Cinnabar is declining. In fact, I believe it is being poisoned. The moth was common throughout the years that ragwort was rare and now that ragwort is widespread, Cinnabar Moths are difficult to find. If we care about the moth, we have to find out why its population is declining in the face of an ad lib supply of "feed'.
I have an entire section of my ragwort facts website devoted to this man's strange beliefs. I would direct people to start with this article There are no fewer than SEVENTEEN false or suspect claims there. Yet he has been promoted by the anti-ragwort brigade as a world leading expert.
https://www.ragwortfacts.com/professor-derek-knottenbelt-country-illustrated.html
