(Nick Maclaren) wrote in message ...
In article , "Dave Liquorice" writes:
| On 18 Aug 2003 11:16:23 GMT, wrote:
|
| Do you have evidence for this as when we enquired of DEFRA about it
| they said that as far as they knew it was harmless to touch and pull
| it.
|
| DEFRA need to stop contradicting themselves, read that "large" .PDF
| point to a while back. That pretty much states that skin contact
| should be avoided, long sleeves and trousers, gloves etc. Mind you
| that whole document is on the safe side of safe.

Almost certainly the arse covering side of safe! You do not increase
safety by going bananas. I am now seeing that sort of notice on
bags of sharp sand - yes, really, complete with instructions to
wash carefully with soap after any accidental contact.

Now, which is more likely to cause skin irritation - soap or sand?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I have researched this. In detail by looking through the scientific
literature.
The claim that Ragwort is a human health risk if handled is complete
nonsense.
It isn't even particularly toxic to animals. AS I keep saying there is
an example in the scientific literature of a horse being deliberately
fed over 20% of its body weight of dried ragwort and SURVIVING! It is
only the cumulative effects that make it toxic.

The dose that a human would have to consume would be in the order of a
stone or so in weight. No direct research has been done on ragwort but
it has been done on Comfrey which contains similar chemicals. This
study on rats showed that skin absorbtion was up to 50 times less than
that through the gut.

You'd have to bathe in the stuff regularly for there to be any effect.

Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn
Bog National Nature Reserve