This page documents one of a number of cases involving Ragwort and the Advertising Standards Authority where inaccurate and misleading information has had to be removed from the internet.
The British Horse Society had created jointly with Warwickshire Council a misleading leaflet on ragwort. Leaflets are covered by the by the ASA codes and this was available on the council's website for anyone, anywhere to download a distribute. It carried the logos of both organisations.
They said,
“Common Ragwort is specified as an injurious weed in the Weeds Act 1959, which was amended in 2003 by the Ragwort Control Act which in turn enforces a Code of Practice for landowners and occupiers to prevent the spread of ragwort. It is an offence to allow ragwort to spread from your land. Operation Ragwort is about raising the awareness of ragwort, to assist with identification, and to encourage its safe removal.”
It is true that the Weeds Act designates Common Ragwort with several other weeds which are non-toxic as weeds injurious to the interests of agriculture. It is true that the Ragwort Control Act exists. The later act only creates a Code of Practice and does nothing else. It enforces nothing so we believe that the statement that it enforces something is misleading as it implies the legal status of ragwort has recently changed.. The most serious individual misleading statement in this set of claims is the claim that it is an offence to allow ragwort to spread from your land. This is certainly not true.
The Weeds Act allows an order to be made where it is considered that injurious weeds are a problem. It is an offence not to comply with such an order but no offence is otherwise committed. This is unaffected by the Ragwort Control Act. In the guidance produced under the later act DEFRA say the following.
“This code does not seek to eradicate ragwort. Ragwort, as a native plant, is very important for wildlife in the UK. It supports a wide variety of invertebrates and is a major nectar source for many insects. ”
Ragwort is important to biodiversity and we have a briefing on ragwort law. The ASA acted and told them that the leaflet must be removed and not used.
We have real problems with a lot of what the British Horse Society says about ragwort. Having done a detailed study of all the science we disagree with them on many issues because the evidence says that they are incorrect. In this case they were clearly have their name to something where an independent source was able to judge and we were found to be correct.
Unfortunately Warwickshire council still continue to repeat what is essentially the same false claim on their website. We believe this is unacceptable behaviour.
The British Horse Society runs a Ragwort Awareness Week which often contains elements in its publicity with which we disagree.