Warning: Toxic plant can cause 3rd-degree-burns and blindness

[longknife]

Giant hogweed is native to the Caucasus region and Central Asia. It was introduced to Britain as an ornamental plant in the 19th century, and it has also spread to many other parts of Europe, the United States, and Canada.

The sap of giant hogweed causes phytophotodermatitis in humans, resulting in blisters and scars. These serious reactions are due to the furocoumarin derivatives in the leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and seeds of the plant

Don’t use a weed whacker as it can splash the toxic sap onto your skin.

More @ Invasive plant that causes 3rd-degree burns, permanent blindness discovered in Virginia

 

[waltky]

Gene Therapy Breakthrough Wins World's Largest Vision Award...

Gene Therapy Breakthrough Wins World's Largest Vision Award
September 04, 2018 — Seven scientists in the United States and Britain who have come up with a revolutionary gene therapy cure for a rare genetic form of childhood blindness won a 1 million euro ($1.15 million) prize Tuesday, Portugal's Champalimaud Foundation said.

Established in 2006, the annual award for work related to vision is one of the world's largest science prizes, more than the latest 9 million Swedish crown ($987,000) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. "This is the first, and still only, example of successful gene therapy in humans that corrects an inherited genetic defect and is therefore a milestone in medical therapeutics," said Alfred Sommer, Dean Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and chairman of the award jury.

Jean Bennett, Albert Maguire, Robin Ali, James Bainbridge, Samuel Jacobson, T. Michael Redmond and Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa attend the 2018 Antonio Champalimaud Vision Awards ceremony at Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal​

One of those honored, Michael Redmond of the National Eye Institute in Maryland, had traced the cause of the disease, Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), to a mutated gene. Three cooperating research teams later managed to replace the gene in the eye, restoring vision to treated children and adults with one form of LCA and "enabling the entire field ]of gene therapy for human disease," the foundation said. These teams are comprised of U.S. scientists Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire; Samuel Jacobson and William Hauswirth; and Britons Robin Ali and James Bainbridge.

Their gene augmentation therapy involved the delivery of healthy genes using engineered harmless viruses, described by the foundation as "an elegant solution." The foundation, which focuses on neuroscience and oncology research at its Lisbon base, was set up at the bequest of Portugal's late industrialist Antonio Champalimaud who died in 2004. The first vision prize was awarded in 2006.

Gene Therapy Breakthrough Wins World's Largest Vision Award

 

[EvilCat Breath]

But it's a plant. Plants are harmless. Flowers don't hurt people.

 

[mamooth]

Wild Parsnip contains the same burning chemical as Giant Hogweed, and it's much more widely distributed in the USA. I've become an expert in spotting it and eradicating it in local parks and wild areas. Everyone should learn to ID it. It's common in roadside ditches and power line right-of-ways, as lawnmowers will spread the seeds from place to place.

If you want to see the gross images of someone with blisters the size of golf balls, go to this link.

Vermont woman reveals horrific wild parsnip burns in warning about dangerous plant