Professor Derek Knottenbelt is a well known veterinary expert. He holds a personal Chair in Equine Medicine at the University of Liverpool. He has written widely about equine medicine. He received the Animal Health Trust Scientific Award in 2003, the BEVA (Blue Cross) Welfare Award in 2004 and the OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2005 for his services to Equine Medicine.
It is important in science that conclusions are based on evidence. The Nobel Prize
winning physicist Professor
Richard Feynman sums this up in a famous quote during one of his recorded lectures.
He was talking about the derivation
of knowledge about the laws of physics but the
principle applies to all of science.
"If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. In that simple statement is the
key to science. It doesn't matter how
beautiful the guess is. It doesn't matter how smart you are. Who made the guess .
What his name is. If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. That is all there
is to it."
It is important in science to remember that it is the evidence that substantiates
that someone is correct not their qualifications or their reputation. Therefore
to be scientific we should take note of someone's qualifications and background
but it is only the evidence that shows whether they are correct or not.
Professor Knottenbelt is also well known as an anti-ragwort campaigner.
His views seem rather forthright and
he is quoted in several places as saying about the subject of ragwort
"It is toxic to humans, so what the hell are we doing with it in this country?"
He is frequently described by the horsey lobby as a leading expert on ragwort.
Professor Knottenbelt is undoubtedly a very
fine
veterinary expert, but the study of ragwort is a botanical matter and requires knowledge of
botany and ecology.
These are not
veterinary matters covering animals and the evidence seems to clearly suggest that a lot of
what he is saying is incorrect. The articles here set what he is saying
in the context of the available research and information. He has played quite a role in
the public perception
of ragwort and it is therefore clearly in the public interest that his views are examined
in relation to the
scientific and other evidence so that people who are looking at what he says are properly
informed of the weaknesses in his arguments in order that they can form an objective judgement
on the issues surrounding ragwort.
To start this analysis we should first examine primary sources of information that we can attribute directly to him personally. These are things written by him alone and not press quotations.
The primary article which you need to look at is Professor Knottenbelt's article in Country Illustrated magazine. The author of this site has seen many inaccurate and deplorable articles on the subject but in his honest opinion this is by far the worst. It is full of inaccuracies and falsehoods.
There are three other articles which you may wish to read on this website.
Firstly there is an article in the newsletter of the Friends of Bidston Hill. See:- Professor Derek Knottenbelt - Bidston Hill. This contains clear inaccuracies about the law and apparent misunderstandings of the ecology of ragwort.
Secondly, there is a letter he wrote to the Yorkshire Post. See:- Professor Derek Knottenbelt Yorkshire Post. This contains a number of claims on the occurrence of ragwort, examples of claimed poisoning in humans, which the evidence seems to show were caused by different plant, and , most importantly, the statistical basis on which he bases his claims of large numbers of horse deaths. These statistics do not appear to be accurate and do not appear to be based on proper scientific principles.
Thirdly, there are articles he wrote for a Conference on Feeding horses See:- Professor Derek Knottenbelt Feeding horses. These contain similar claims to the other items and more detail, it would appear that the professor is mistaken about a number of matters involving the biochemistry and the toxicology of the plant and that as a consequence he apparently over estimates the risk of small doses. It would also appear that he is unaware of the areas of science which go beyond pure veterinary science which explain why animals are reluctant to eat the fresh plants.
In addition there is also a list of Professor Knottenbelt's comments and quotations in the press