British Horse Society in trouble over publicity over Ragwort

[Swallowtail]

The subject of the hysteria around ragwort has been discussed several times on this forum. Now Buglife have exposed the latest scandal in the national press.
The British Horse Society have been in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority. One of their leaflets has been pulled from circulation and several companies who have been repeating what they are saying have had to change their web advertisements.

Monsanto, Barrier Biotech Ltd, Ragfork, The British Horse Society and Warwickshire Council have been caught out by the Advertising Standards Authority displaying inaccurate and misleading information on their websites and in leaflets about Common ragwort, a British wildflower important for wildlife conservation. All the organisations have agreed to remove information that wildly exaggerated how many horses die from Ragwort poisoning or made false claims that landowners have a legal obligation to ‘control’ it.

Advertising codes are laid down by the Advertising Standards Authority to ensure advertising is legal, decent, honest and trustful.

Read the full press release here.
Buglife | News Archive 2011 | Advertising Standards Authority crack down on misleading information about Ragwort - a British wildflower

It has been in the press.
Toxic weed or an essential part of British ecology? - Telegraph

Horse group told to tone down ragwort campaign - mirror.co.uk

It is about time the propaganda was exposed for what it is. Ragwort is important for insects and has been subject to a ridiculous campaign of vilification just because it is poisonous just occasionally. From reading the articles, it looks like a member of this forum was responsible for exposing it with the ASA. Well done! and bravo for Buglife.

You can find the details of the ASA complaints on this environmental website.

Ragwort and the Advertising Standards Authority

[Klaas Reißmann]

May I ask what the Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) and the dying horses have got to do with insects? The only insect I know, that is fed by Common Ragwort is Thyria jacobaeae, a beautyful butterfly, that stretches his area threw the last ten years.

Common Ragwot is known as poisonous for horses and other Vertebrates and is known as well for his fast expansion in the last 10 or 20 years and is even known as a problem on grasslands feeding our Mammals.

My english is possibly not good enough to get the point of your posting, but I don't get the scandal in it (it is a fact that horses die feeding Common Ragwort and it is a fact, too, that it is very difficult to keep it from the grasslands and that it is difficult, too, to avoid horses from eating it). We do have the same problems in Germany. Maybe someone can give me an explanation for this.

Regards
Klaas

[eucera]

Senecio jacobaea is one of the very best nectar sources for solitary and bumblebees, and many aculeate wasps as well

[Ukwildlifeo]

Ragwort is the food plant of cinnebar (and burnet?) moths too

[Johnny81]

"At least 30 insect species (and 14 fungi species) are entirely reliant on Ragwort, and about a third of the insects are scarce or rare". Taken from buglife:
Buglife | Ragwort | Ragwort: Yellow Peril or Precious Flower?

In my opinion this should be in the general wildlife section as it covers plant/insects/mammals.

[Jason Green]

Afternoon all,

Hear, hear - good for the ASA.

Take care,

Jason

[Neil Jones]

Just to clarify things a little and if you doubt that I know what I am talking about then read those press links above :-)

The British Horse Society has been running a campaign against ragwort for several years. During this period they have been feeding stories to the press.
They also had a leaflet with the local council in the area in which I believe they are based. The leaflet was stopped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) because it told people a falsehood about the law.

Then there were companies selling products related to ragwort who were repeating data from stories put out by the British Horse Society. These companies were challenged to prove the validity of their statements by the ASA and were then forced to removed them from the websites, because they could not substantiate them.

The campaign is a serious threat to our wildlife because there is some really rampant hysteria around. This is leading to the removal of all sorts of wildflowers from land and even, as Buglife have documented serious damage to an SSSI. The evidence quite clearly shows that ragwort is not the threat to livestock that it is being portrayed as.
There are various bits and pieces around the internet now which explain the story. This one gives a short Youtube clip ( 1 minute) at the end with Buglife's Chief Executive explaining the situation.

Ragwort hysteria: British Horse Society rapped by Advertising Standards Authority


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[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Ragwort is the food plant of cinnebar (and burnet?) moths too

Not Burnets (Bird'sfoot Trefoil there normal larval food plant)- though you may find adults using it along with various browns + skippers. I t certainly is a valuable insect plant.

[bigdave60dog]

Originally Posted by Swallowtail

The subject of the hysteria around ragwort has been discussed several times on this forum. Now Buglife have exposed the latest scandal in the national press.
The British Horse Society have been in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority. One of their leaflets has been pulled from circulation and several companies who have been repeating what they are saying have had to change their web advertisements.


Read the full press release here.
Buglife | News Archive 2011 | Advertising Standards Authority crack down on misleading information about Ragwort - a British wildflower

It has been in the press.
Toxic weed or an essential part of British ecology? - Telegraph

Horse group told to tone down ragwort campaign - mirror.co.uk

It is about time the propaganda was exposed for what it is. Ragwort is important for insects and has been subject to a ridiculous campaign of vilification just because it is poisonous just occasionally. From reading the articles, it looks like a member of this forum was responsible for exposing it with the ASA. Well done! and bravo for Buglife.

You can find the details of the ASA complaints on this environmental website.

Ragwort and the Advertising Standards Authority

It`s Oxford Ragwort that is prevalent in Warwicks. It is nuisance with livestock though. No doubt about it.
Dave

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by bigdave60dog

It`s Oxford Ragwort that is prevalent in Warwicks. It is nuisance with livestock though. No doubt about it.
Dave

Oxford Ragwort isn't generally common in pasture, usually in more artificial places such as rail ballast, paving cracks, brownfield sites, buildings, etc.; more likely to be Common or Hoary Ragwort I'd have thought.