Warning:
Giant weed that burns and blinds
spreads across Canada
Could
almost mistake this for
Queen Anne’s Lace but
don’t touch it.. !!
PLEASE
READ
THIS!!!!!!!!
A
huge, toxic
plant that can
burn skin and
cause
permanent
blindness has
been found for
the first time
in eastern
Ontario,
prompting
calls for a
federal
response to
contain the
spread of the
poisonous
plant as fear
grows no
province is
immune. A
forestry
official
confirmed two
new findings
of
giant hogweed
last week in
Renfrew County
, west of
Ottawa . It
has previously
been spotted
in
Newfoundland
, New
Brunswick ,
Quebec ,
southwestern
Ontario ,
Alberta and
British
Columbia .
About
50 plants were
spotted in
Torontos Don
Valley two
weeks ago.
Most
provinces have
not authorized
official weed
inspectors to
destroy the
poisonous
plant because it
does not
impinge on
agriculture.
Mr. Muzzi said
he only began
eradicating
the plant
because nobody
else would.
It’s not
really my job,
he said. I
just thought,
somebody
better take
the bull by the
horns here,
cause this
stuff is
really
dangerous.
Giant
hogweed is
already
rampant in
parts of
Europe
including
England ,
where the rock
group.
Genesis
wrote a 1971
ode to the
plant and its
thick dark
warning
odour. Native
to the
Caucasus
Region and
Central Asia,
it was brought
to Europe and
North America
as a botanical
curiosity in
the 19th and 20th
centuries and
has spread
rapidly. It
typically
grows on
riverbanks,
ditches and
roadsides.
The
risk of
infection was
so high, Mr.
Muzzi wore a
Tyvek suit,
protective
goggles,
rubber gloves, the
whole nine
yards, to
remove it, he
said. Which is
really nice in
35-degree
weather.
The
weeds sap,
which is found
all over the
plant, bonds
chemically
with human
skin when
exposed to
sunlight and,
within 48
hours, leads
to
inflammation,
red colouring
and itching,
weeping
blisters and
eventually
black and
purplish
scars. It’s
those flower
heads you want
to get rid of,
Mr. Muzzi said.
I went out,
suited up, cut
all the
flowerheads
off and bagged
them. Then I
nuked the
plants with Round-Up.
Most
susceptible to
infection are
gardeners,
campers and
children, who
have been
known to use the
plants large,
hollow stems
as play
telescopes or
pea-shooters.
If a person
takes a
weed-whacker to
this stuff,
they get the
sap all over,
Mr. Muzzi
said. W hile
the weed is on
the federal
governments official
noxious weeds
list, there is
apparently no
national or
provincial
strategy in
place to stop
its spread.
Guy
Baillargeon, a
biologist with
the Canadian
Biodiversity
Information
Facility,
called the weed
an emerging
problem, not
yet a national
one. Very few
people are
aware of it
right now, he added.
I am not aware
that this
species is on
any provincial
list yet.
Mr.
Baillargeon
said a federal
plan is in the
works to deal
with invasive
species in
general, but
not hogweed
in particular.
I believe the
plant has been
here long
enough that it
would now be
difficult to
eradicate it,
Mr.
Baillargeon
said. So I
don’t expect
that things
will happen
overnight. But
we need
to talk about
it. A 2005
study of the
plants spread
in Canada said
it was likely
to continue
for the
next 25 to 100
years with
worsening
ecological,
economic and
health
effects.
National Post
