Ragwort Poisoning... In Humans?

Ace87

Ace87

Quitus & Strike
Aug 8, 2007
6,076
0
36
Bedfordshire
Hi all

Last night we had a weird night, horses have ALL been escaping a lot lately and my boys have become casualties, Ace has been kicked on the chest and has a nice big haematoma and Quitus has pulled one shoe off - he has softish fronts so needs his shoes). Anyway in the resulting drama, we decided to move the boys to a different paddock..

The new paddock is lush, we have kept it verrrry clean and neat. But we did spot some random ragwort growing in it, so I pulled it up - didn't want silly horses muching on it..

Then a couple of the other girls showed up and we stood about chatting for an hour or thereabouts, this whole time I've had a handful of ragwort.

Put ragwort in bin, got into car and went to tesco. Had to let mum drive as my hand was numb!! My whole hand was tingly and numb and swollen! But was worse where the root had been in my hand!

Has anyone else ever experienced this? It was so painful and took a good 8 hours to wear off - I took lots of anti histomines and slapped antihistomine cream all over my hand which seemed to help slightly!
 
Yep, exactly the same happened to me last time I handled ragwort with no gloves. I didn't even hold on to it for as long as you did, I just picked it off the ragfork and chucked it in the barrow, but even that was enough! Scary stuff...
 
I'd not heard of this before, but I generally wear gloves anyway when I'm picking it, something to be aware of clearly.
 
Ive always used my bare hands to pull up ragwort,years and years ive been doing it ,i must be lucky.
Havent got any at this yard, so havent pulled any for 18mnths.
 
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There was a very long and involved thread on this subject a week or so ago with one member quoting all sorts of scientific studies which stated that Ragwort cannot be absorbed through the skin. I do believe, myself, that it has to be ingested and thereby get into the bloodstream and finally cause poisoning. Having said that, I would always advise someone to wear gloves when pulling ragwort - some people have different reactions to others to plants - you may have or get a cut on your hands or fingers and also it is amazing just how many times your fingers go into your mouth without thinking. I don't care how many reports or studies are made and I am not able to refute any, but just always be careful - wear gloves and wash your hands afterwards. It is only sensible.

Wish I took my own advice, though. I usually end up pulling up ragwort when I am up at the fields seeing to the donkeys and don't have a pair of gloves with me!
 
Ragwort is VERY dangerous! ALWAYS wear gloves! Its even recommended to wear a face mask while pulling as you shouldnt breath in the spores.
 
YES Ragwort can poison humans through the skin or through being inhaled - it is nasty stuff, you should always wear gloves and an attractive dust mask to get rid of it:)
 
It has been proven by a vet that it can be asorbed through the skin in a very short time. Several years ago a vet in one of my trade magazines (Equestrian Trade News) took a sample of his own blood and performed an analysis on it, no toxins in it, he then pulled one ragwort plant up with no gloves on, waited an hour and took another sample of his blood, there were toxins that act upon the liver from the ragwort in his blood. In what quantities I cannot remember but it did prove 100% that it can be asorbed via the largest organ of the body,the skin.
Ragwort is an accumulative toxin, it may not appear to affect you for many, many years but it will be slowly damaging your liver, if after time the person touching ragwort stops the liver can re generate, it is a very robust organ but if the liver has been exposed to the ragwort toxins for too long it gets past the point of no return and it can kill you,don't take risks with ragwort,it can creep up on you.
Better be safe then sorry, always use gloves!
Oz :)
 
Was reading this with interest for more than just the ragwort discussion. I was always taught to wear gloves when removing any poisonous plant, so I've never had the experience of handling poisonous plants with bare hands.
It's interesting to see people using the word 'proved/proven' (regarding skin absorption of ragwort). I personally think that this word is very strong and doesn't really take into account other studies findings. Some studies have shown that it can be absorbed, whereas some don't. I think sometimes its hard to 'prove' something once and for all and often depends upon conditions used in individual studies.

Although, back to the point. Best option is to wear gloves :-D whether it is absorbed by the skin or not.
Good point made by the original poster though - some people my not have even thought to wear gloves until reading this.
 
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