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Ragwort dot org's home page Ragwort and DHMO How fear of something is not always rational. What is the real truth about horse deaths How statistics can be used to mislead. How toxic is ragwort Not as much as you might think. Why ragwort doesn't poison humans. A widespread myth debunked. The law and ragwort Why there is no general obligation to control it. Government bloopers Incorrect or misleading advice from councils and government.
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There are many scare stories and hoaxes circulating about ragwort. One of the most pernicious is that it is dangerous to humans.
This is quite simply not true. It is a hoax. Eating large quantities of ragwort in the order of several kilograms of weight might well do harm to someone but the stories don't say that. They say that it is dangerous to handle. Some of these stories have been spread by people standing to gain financially. The facts are these. Research has shown that the alkaloids in ragwort are poorly absorbed through the skin. If they are absorbed through the skin they can do no harm. This is because to become toxic they have to be chemically changed by in the gut. Taken through the skin they are just passed through the body.
It is worth mentioning though that some people are sensitive to certain members of the daisy family including ragwort. This is due to a different set of substances which do not harm the liver but which can cause skin rashes.