Ban ragwort on all private land petition to government.....

How would that work then?

Until the government/councils/highways agencies make efforts to eradicate it from the sides of roads, the problem with the plant will just continue. It's a hardy plant.

Plus, various insects depend on ragwort. Do you have your own land? We remove ragwort ever year and have done for over 20 years, from our land. However, we like our fields to have mixed pasture - not be nicely preened paddocks (this seems to be the cause of many a laminitic/overweight pony as the grass is too lush/well fertilised). You can't keep mixed pastures very well if you blanket weed kill to eradicate ragwort.

What are they intending on doing - fining people who have a sprig in their field? I have also seem some in gardens recently so it'd be rather hard to 'ban' wouldn't it?!

Yes ragwort is unpleasant stuff and yes it can cause illness/death in horses etc but there are worse things to worry about in my opinion. A horse really has to digest A LOT of the stuff, over a prolonged period for it to cause effect and this is generally unlikely if they have access to plenty of grazing.
 
Why only private land? - worst 'fields' of ragwort are council Iverges and roundabouts - these effect everone as seeds stick to lorries/ cars and travel miles and miles - you'll even bring them home on your car!

It's already illegal (2003 act) - what more would a ban do??

What needs to be done is enforcement of the act - but that would cost millions - better a petition to require healthy but unemployed people to have to bring in 5 sacks of ragwort each week to be able to claim their benefits - no sacks no free money - something like that might actually have an impact.
 
Polos Mum said:
What needs to be done is enforcement of the act - but that would cost millions - better a petition to require healthy but unemployed people to have to bring in 5 sacks of ragwort each week to be able to claim their benefits - no sacks no free money - something like that might actually have an impact.
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What about people who live in cities? What happens to the people working for councils that do make an effort to control ragwort? Do you really want your taxes paying for Job Centres to store and dispose of bags of ragwort?
You do know that the unemployment figures are up by one million since the credit crunch and its not because a million people have decided working is for suckers, right? Even if you think the unemployed should work for 70 quid a week while looking for a new job (which is a pretty time consuming process) do you really think uprooting ragwort is the most beneficial thing they could be doing?
 
Sorry - ridiculous.

As someone has already said, it is already an offence, it just isn't being enforced. If everyone employed better land management it wouldn't be an issue, but I understand that isn't the case, so I just pull my bits every year like most people on here...
 
I see no point in this petition it already is a duty to control it but TBH common ragwort is a native plant and I am not sure if I would support it being completely eradicated .
However Ragwort has no place on farm land I for one am very cautious about eating liver unless I know where it from as all those toxins from the ragwort are there in the liver if say the sheep has eaten it.
The national trust now makes no attempt to control it on the dunes it has near us it's now seeding on to the local farms .
I think the whole approach needs a rethink with ragwort we focus on horses because we are horsey but tbh the risk to humans is there .
 
Goldenstar said:
I see no point in this petition it already is a duty to control it but TBH common ragwort is a native plant and I am not sure if I would support it being completely eradicated .
However Ragwort has no place on farm land I for one am very cautious about eating liver unless I know where it from as all those toxins from the ragwort are there in the liver if say the sheep has eaten it.
The national trust now makes no attempt to control it on the dunes it has near us it's now seeding on to the local farms .
I think the whole approach needs a rethink with ragwort we focus on horses because we are horsey but tbh the risk to humans is there .
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GS - really interesting way to look at it and I had never considered the dangers of eating liver so thanks for posting. I know a lot of the Wildlife Trust land around us has also been left with ragwort to seed and get everywhere - it is frustrating when such large landowners neglect to enforce management even when land is tenanted.
 
Because ragwort is the main food of cinnabar moths and the humble insect has friends in various organisations who would be very shouty if attempts were made to have it erradicated.
Realistically, I'd like to see it banned on all grazing land and the land adjacent. Better to try for a compromise than have the whole issue shelved.
 
Apparently liver that has suffered from ragwort poisoning is safe to eat as the alkaloids don't stay in the tissue:-

"The PA [ pyrroldizine alkaloids] are not accumulated in the tissues; it is the damage that is cumulative. The damage is confined to the liver, which in an animal with ragwort toxicity would be shrunken and fibrotic. The carcass would likely be condemned because of the liver damage. In sheep which had consumed ragwort but did not show obvious liver damage, there would be no residues of PA in the meat. The PA are metabolized in the liver, and excreted as conjugates in the urine. Small amounts of pyrrole bound to DNA in the liver would not be measurable. Thus in my judgement there is no concern whatsoever about possible human toxicity from consumption of meat from sheep which had consumed ragwort." From Peter Crookes at Oregon State University who has studied ragwort toxicity.
 
Polos Mum said:
Why only private land? - worst 'fields' of ragwort are council Iverges and roundabouts - these effect everone as seeds stick to lorries/ cars and travel miles and miles - you'll even bring them home on your car!

It's already illegal (2003 act) - what more would a ban do??

What needs to be done is enforcement of the act - but that would cost millions - better a petition to require healthy but unemployed people to have to bring in 5 sacks of ragwort each week to be able to claim their benefits - no sacks no free money - something like that might actually have an impact.
Click to expand...

I'm liking this idea a lot.
 
I'm a bit bemused that some people seem to think sending out the unemployed to pull up ragwort is an acceptable idea. If we could send the unemployed out to earn their 'free' money (which at least some of them will have paid their taxes towards), don't you think there would be better things to do with their time?

and, other than religeously pulling it up as soon as I see it, which I do, how do I ban it exactly?
 
touchstone said:
Apparently liver that has suffered from ragwort poisoning is safe to eat as the alkaloids don't stay in the tissue:-

"The PA [ pyrroldizine alkaloids] are not accumulated in the tissues; it is the damage that is cumulative. The damage is confined to the liver, which in an animal with ragwort toxicity would be shrunken and fibrotic. The carcass would likely be condemned because of the liver damage. In sheep which had consumed ragwort but did not show obvious liver damage, there would be no residues of PA in the meat. The PA are metabolized in the liver, and excreted as conjugates in the urine. Small amounts of pyrrole bound to DNA in the liver would not be measurable. Thus in my judgement there is no concern whatsoever about possible human toxicity from consumption of meat from sheep which had consumed ragwort." From Peter Crookes at Oregon State University who has studied ragwort toxicity.
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And because of the way our oldies deal with it, it is apparently not toxic to touch/handle it. From a ragwort website:

Concern has been expressed in some quarters of the risk of handling Ragwort. The concern being that the toxins could be absorbed through the skin and poisoning occur. However, alkaloids which are absorbed through the skin are in the N-Oxide form having not passed through the digestive system(1) and are therefore non-toxic. These are excreted from the system within 24-48 hours (1)

Not sure it's illegal according to the Weeds Act 1959:


1 Power to require occupier to prevent spreading of injurious weeds
(1)Where the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (in this Act referred to as "the Minister") is satisfied that there are injurious weeds to which this Act applies growing upon any land he may serve upon the occupier of the land a notice in writing requiring him, within the time specified in the notice, to take such action as may be necessary to prevent the weeds from spreading.
(2)This Act applies to the following injurious weeds, that is to say—
spear thistle (cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten.),
creeping or field thistle (cirsium arvense(L.) Scop.),
curled dock (rumex crispusL.),
broad-leaved dock (rumex obtusifoliusL.), and
ragwort (senecio jacobaeaL.);


Was just telling my French mate (it's virtually unheard of how dangerous it is to horses over there ) how horrible the stuff is.
 
My sugestion was very tongue in cheek - sorry if wasn't silly enough for that to be clear.

I think (sadly) there are much more important things for the government to spend their very limited funds on hence any major enforcement of the 2003 act won't and shouldn't happen.

And while it would be nice to help some unemployed people by giving them work experience/ a sense of achievement or pride/ something good to put on a CV - I agree administering any sort of charity work scheme for them would be inpractical and absolute there are far more important charity/ work for benefits roles they could undertake that would benefit a wider range of society.
 
Lol, at least my recently made redundant boyfriend is earning his keep then, he's uprooted most of my Ragwort! He's also worked for years until now.

I just see it another one of those things that people who keep horses and other animals have to maintain. Yes it is annoying that other people have it on their land that creates seeds but it is not like you can't remove it or spray it, and it is not so poisonous that missing one or two sprigs is going to kill your animals.

People do need to realise that the organisms that present an annoyance to humans are all part of a complex ecosystem and it is a balance we are aiming for, not blind eradication!
 
somewhat amazed by the attitudes on here tbh - clearly none of you has seen the agonising death of a horse with liver failure. There are a couple of errors in that link certainly, however raising awareness that ragwort is a growing crop is necessary.

Its not just eating the plants themselves, its the spores that are given off and blown all over so you can break your back clearing your field of it but if its around you you may as well not bother frankly.

The Cinnabar moth can survive on other plants so it wouldnt spell the end for them - nor would it be a problem were it on the moors say, providing you dont mind the sheep and native ponies eating the stuff I spose, but local councils seem to be leaving it to grow unchecked and each year there is more around.
 
TigerTail said:
somewhat amazed by the attitudes on here tbh - clearly none of you has seen the agonising death of a horse with liver failure. There are a couple of errors in that link certainly, however raising awareness that ragwort is a growing crop is necessary.

Its not just eating the plants themselves, its the spores that are given off and blown all over so you can break your back clearing your field of it but if its around you you may as well not bother frankly.

The Cinnabar moth can survive on other plants so it wouldnt spell the end for them - nor would it be a problem were it on the moors say, providing you dont mind the sheep and native ponies eating the stuff I spose, but local councils seem to be leaving it to grow unchecked and each year there is more around.
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I fully understand that death by ragwort poisoning is horrendous but then, in the big scheme of things it's pretty rare and horse die horrible deaths from other means more than from ragwort poisoning. Plus, I am never quite sure how a vet can diagnose that a horse with liver poisoning got it from consuming ragwort? Is there something they find during a PM that proves the cause is actually ragwort or is it just assume that is the cause? (genuine question).
 
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