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Press Release: ACT NOW TO STOP KILLER WEED WARNS CLA The drought is providing ideal conditions for the seeds of a deadly plant which kills horses and other animals in a slow, lingering death every year, warns the Country Land and Business Association (CLA). The plant is ragwort and it causes irreversible liver failure when eaten by livestock; horses are particularly vulnerable. It is now flowering in abundance throughout Bedfordshire, setting up a time-bomb of seeds for next year. Each plant can produce up to 150,000 air-borne seeds which will lie dormant in the soil for up to 20 years. Although subject of the Ragwort Control Act 2003, which makes it easier to prosecute those who disregard the need to control it, ragwort is thriving throughout the county and its vivid yellow flowers are to be seen everywhere. They line roadside verges, dominate areas of waste ground and are particularly rampant on impoverished pasture. Says CLA adviser Tim Isaac: "Many people are not aware of the dangers of ragwort and yet research* has shown that it is the most common poisoning of all animals in the UK. It causes liver failure but remains undetected until it has done irreversible damage. It affects horses most of all, but also sheep and cattle as well as rodents and invertebrates. "This is why draconian measures are in place to require the occupiers of land to control it. DEFRA can serve enforcement notices but a glance at our highways and byways will tell you that this is not being done. There are vast amounts of ragwort alongside roads, particularly motorways and dual-carriageways and along railway lines. "The authorities need to act now and I ask everyone to report it when they see it." To report ragwort beside a motorway or trunk road, contact the Highways Agency on 08457 504030, for other roads inform the highways department of your local county council. If it appears on railway land or embankments, call Network Rail on 08457 114141. If occupiers fail to deal with the ragwort problem then take the matter up with Defra on 08459 335577, which who can serve an enforcement notice on the occupier of land on which injurious weeds are growing, under the Weeds Act 1959. DEFRA has issued a code of practice for dealing with ragwort which may be found on their website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/wildlife/weeds/index.htm *Information from Professor Derek Knottenbolt, University of Liverpool. |
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