Advertising Standards Story Spreads to the Netherlands

A while ago the big story of how the British Horse Society had one of their leaflets stopped and several companies repeating their dodgy had been the subject of action by the Advertising Standards Authority hit the news

Now it the story has hit the Dutch language press with a story in one of their newspapers. Ragwort hysteria has spread to the Netherlands with many people repeating the same false stories that have been the subject of action here.

Countrylife gets it wrong

Today's entry in the everlasting list of errors about ragwort that occur on the internet comes from the website of Countrylife Magazine

It states.

Ragwort kills livestock and there is a law demanding that it is pulled up-surely a useful job for young offenders.

It is true that ragwort in hay occasionally kills livestock. It is much exaggerated though, but the site repeats the well known legal myth that was perpetuated for years by the British Horse Society and which led to the action against on of their leaflets by the Advertising Standards authority.

Daily Mail Repeats ragwort myth

Today's Daily Mail carries a scare story about hemlock. It is deadly and is "invading" our roadsides. Well not quite. Yes it is really poisonous. On of the most poisonous around but it isn't invading anywhere. It has always been there.
Perhaps being the Daily Mail they think it is an asylum seeker. :-)

Rather predictably, as often happens with Ragwort they have a photo of Hemlock Water Dropwort on the article another poisonous plant

However it goes on to repeat a myth about ragwort.

Ragwort, another deadly weed for humans and animals, has been on the rise in recent years.

There is no serious risk to people from Ragwort as you would have to eat it in some quantity to be poisoned .It is nowhere near in the same league as hemlock!
Also it is NOT increasing. This is a regular claim from the anti-ragwort brigade but there is no evidence to support it and good evidence to say it is decreasing.

The skin absorption myth

There is a myth around that ragwort poses a serious risk to human health.
Rumour abounds. This latest posting is stimulated by a statement made on Twitter.

Lovespoon Lovespoon Gelato
@fedupfarmer @hastillonlyme Re ragwort:a woman DIED last summer,having cleared her horse's field of it without wearing gloves.Hideous stuff.

The poster was challenged and could not provide the evidence. Various stories like this have been circulating the internet for years but there is never any evidence. A few years ago the government rejected a petition from the petitions website that made unfounded claims of several deaths. It is also significant that the poster made the error of thinking that ragwort is a notifiable weed. It was stories like that that led to the complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority recently.

What does the science tell us? There is a very good report on this on the internet written by Dutch ragwort expert Esther Hegt and Dr Pieter Pelser. Dr Pelser is a world authority on ragwort and actually has a Phd on the plant.

This is what they have to say on the matter:

2) Report on the internet by Dr. Knottenbelt (Liverpool University). This veterinarian is quoted on the internet quite a lot, because he stated, during a debate in the House of Commons, that the toxic substance in ragwort can almost certainly be absorbed through the skin (6). In response to this we contacted Dr. Knottenbelt. Through an email he informed us that there is no scientific proof for his statements. He writes that he himself has suffered liver damage after manually removing ragwort plants. The results of this ‘experiment’ have not been published and, according to us, are not obtained through a good scientific trial.

Through our research about the sources of the reports on the danger of touching ragwort, we conclude that there is no substantial evidence that there is a health risk for people. The amount of pyrrolizidine alkaloids that might be absorbed through the skin is very low and there is no proof that these alkaloids are being changed into a toxic form. Ragwort can cause an allergic skin reaction upon contact; compositae dermatitis (7). This allergy can appear after touching or eating the plant. This allergy is not caused by the pyrrolizidine alkaloids but by other substances that are common in many of the members of the Sunflower family (sesquiterpene lactones)(8).

So basically it is a non-story. There is no evidence that this ever happens.

The Royal Horticultural Society gets it wrong.

The Royal Horticultural Society has also succumbed to the misinformation about ragwort.
This is a statement on its website.

The Weeds Act specifies five injurious weeds: common ragwort, spear thistle, creeping or field thistle, broad-leaved dock and curled dock. The Ragwort Control Act 2003 (which amends the Weeds Act 1959), imposes a duty of responsibility on landowners to effectively control Senecio jacobaea, preventing its spread onto grazing land.

This is wrong.

The Ragwort Control Act imposes no duties on anyone. It merely says

(1) The Minister may make a code of practice for the purpose of providing guidance on how to prevent the spread of ragwort (senecio jacobaea L.).

Of course the problem is there have been people going around campaigning against this ecologically valuable weed which has then led to trouble. Like the problems in the British Horse Society / Advertising Standards Authority affair.

Oh and in case anyone is wondering the Weeds Act doesn't impose any automatic duty on anyone to get rid of ragwort either!

letter replying in telegraph

A few days ago I blogged about a really silly letter in the Daily Telegraph. It contained perhaps only one correct sentence saying that there was a lot of ignorance about ragwort. It was given great prominence which was particularly bad considering how much poor information it contained.

Recent revelations about the corrupting influence of the press serve to highlight the power of the internet in getting the point across. The original letter gave thousands of people incorrect information about the laws of the land, which two minutes checking would have proved false.

Incorrect and unchecked press articles are part of the reason that I see that it is necessary to blog like this.

Now a letter has appeared in reply from several conservation organisations. (I should make it clear that I am Neil Jones, one of the signatories, which most people will know.)

This is what was printed.

SIR - Ragwort (Letters, July 15) does not poison people who inhale its seeds, and it is not illegal to grow ragwort, although in exceptional circumstances someone could be ordered to control its spread.

It is a plant upon which at least 30 insect species, many rare, entirely rely. Ragwort is also an important nectar and pollen source for hundreds of species of butterflies, bees, moths, beetles and flies, helping to maintain what remains of our wildlife.

Nicola Hutchinson
Plantlife
Matt Shardlow
Buglife
Martin Warren
Butterfly Conservation
Neil Jones
Swansea Friends of the Earth

Nantwich Vet group gone from Twitter.

Yesterday I blogged about the Nantwich Vet Group getting their facts badly wrong about ragwort.I looked this morning to see if there were any responses. Their twitter account is gone. Presumably they removed it themselves.



If only more people were suitably embarrassed at getting things wrong then there would be no need for this blog or for people to do things like complain about the British Horse Society / Advertising standards affair