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Ragwort poisoning is normally associated with horses, cattle and sheep or with people when they have consumed herbal remedies made from parts of the ragwort plant. Records show many cases of people killed or maimed by consuming PAs from ragwort and other plants, all tend to be from the poorer continents.
So, if we never eat ragwort, or take ragwort based remedies, how can this plant possibly harm anyone in modern day Europe?
The answer is that if ragwort levels were relatively low (i.e. rare), we would be hard pushed to be harmed in any way by this plant. HOWEVER, when the plant becomes commonplace (look at any road verge in June) it has a capacity to attack us in a number of different ways.
CONSIDER:-
- The class of schoolchildren spending a day pulling out ragwort to ‘Save the horses’.
- The contractor flail mowing verges full of ragwort.
- The lady who spent three days hand pulling the ragwort out of her fields.
- The bumper honey crop collected from the bumper ragwort crop.
- The council highways worker strimming the verges.
- The children playing on the lawn full of ragwort rosettes.
- The milk produced by the herd with a bedding of rough hay full of dry ragwort.
- The ‘work experience’ student who spent the day tending a bonfire of ragwort.
None of these things would have happened if ragwort had been a rarity, if it had been kept under control by the timely enforcement of The Weeds Act. But ragwort is now commonplace and these events have happened. Some of the events have happened thousands of times over throughout the length and breadth of the land. Many of these events will happen with increased frequency as ragwort continues to proliferate year on year.
NOW CONSIDER:-
- Ragwort sap contains PAs and PAs will absorb through the skin and attack the liver.
- PAs are much more dangerous to children than to adults.
- One adequate exposure to PAs can lead to death or cirrhosis 18 to 24 months later.
- The chances of being alive two years after jaundice induced by PAs is only 1 in 4 (the lady who spent 3 days pulling ragwort developed jaundice).
- Sap atomised by mowers or strimmers can be breathed in or settle on the skin - the PAs will be absorbed.
- Honey made by bees foraging nectar from ragwort has highly concentrated levels of PAs.
- Milk yielded by cows eating ragwort contains PAs (EHC80 Introduction).
- The Health and Safety Laboratories warned that PAs are likely to be concentrated in ragwort bonfire smoke.
The WHO has made a series of recommendations to the Governments of countries where ragwort and other PA containing plants are common. Two of these are:-
- The Government should routinely monitor ‘AT RISK’ foods for the presence of PAs. These foods include dairy products and honey.
- The Government should implement programmes of awareness to appraise the public and in particular, all GPs and health practitioners, of the dangers and symptoms of ragwort poisoning.
The WHO does not make recommendations like these to world Governments unless there is a sound basis in fact and a real risk to health, life and society. If anyone does not believe that ragwort PAs are poisonous and dangerous, then we suggest that they take it up with the world renowned experts who researched the facts and advised the WHO.
We urge the Government to continue the Food Safety Audit work started by MAFF in 1995 and to extend this work in accordance with the recommendations made by the WHO. Only when the exposure of our food chains is quantified will medical science be able to assess the rate of damage being accrued through food. Equally, we urge the Government to establish a safety monitoring programme for workers involved in the management of ragwort.
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