• Question: Giant Hogweed was said to be useful as we can use toxins from there on crops to deter food but surely the toxins will overtime endanger species and the small amount of toxins that get absorbed into the food will overtime build up in our bodies to larger amounts (when we eat the crops) having a negative impact on our health?

    Asked by minipasha to Giant Hogweed on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Giant Hogweed

      Giant Hogweed answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      Hey, that’s honestly a very intelligent question! Well the giant hogweed can be used as a biological control agent for pests. Now what this means is that the toxin is harmful for the pest and not the plant or the ecosystem (soil). This is because the toxin is well metabolised by the pest and when it reaches the soil, it’s probably isn’t harmful anymore. So bio-pesticides (pesticides from biological origin) can be really amazing because of this reason, they are natural and they cause no pollution to the ecosystem, making it a healthy and sustainable agriculture!

      Please do ask me if anything is unclear, and thanks again for the very thoughtful query.

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