Laurel – Love the smell, but is it really bad for you?

[5thelement]

1 minute ago, Steve Bullman said:

You obviously never heard about the tramp who snacked on them and died on a park bench then

Or the vegan death cult who all passed away after meditating in a room where Laurel had been used as the incense.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, 5thelement said:

Or the vegan death cult who all passed away after meditating in a room where Laurel had been used as the incense.

Yes well burning would neutralise any prussic acid produced and I think the two precursors only meet after the leaf is crushed.

 

It is highly toxic to ruminants and would kill a person if chewed and there is no doubt that crushed leaves were used to kill butterflies.

 

The question is  could you breathe in sufficient HCN; "Approximately 50 to 210 mg hydrocyanic acid can be liberated from 100 g fresh leaves."

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/mrl-report/prunus-laurocerasus-summary-report-committee-veterinary-medicinal-products_en.pdf

[Conor Wright]

Came across this. I had heard of cattle being found dead after eating laurel clippings and this thread reminded me.

Also I think there was a case where someone passed out in a car while driving with a boot load of laurel clippings. Maybe the crash caused a death or something, but there is some truth in the legend.

[Conor Wright]

Em, I think myself and openspaceman were looking at similar things at the same time there!

[Dan Maynard]

9 hours ago, Ty Korrigan said:

A 74 year old man felt sick after cutting a laurel hedge and his wife believes he was poisoned by the laurel

74 year old man sick of cutting hedge says to wife "I feel terrible, I think that hedge has poisoned me - you'll have to get someone else in to do it next time"

[PeteB]

I see to recall a chipper demo with the National Trust some 20+ years back and they had had a professional examination done which did confirm that the fumes were dangerous enough to cause headaches and nausea from standing over a chipper on a still day!

[daveatdave]

i felt giddy once when i chipped some lavender never did it again. 

[5thelement]

8 hours ago, PeteB said:

I see to recall a chipper demo with the National Trust some 20+ years back and they had had a professional examination done which did confirm that the fumes were dangerous enough to cause headaches and nausea from standing over a chipper on a still day!

Yet the data, (if it exists), isn’t in the public domain, and no COSHH advice has been published  by HSE/AFAG in regard to chipping Cherry Laurel, even after all these car crashes, deaths and acute headaches/nausea/vomiting being reported. 

[PeteB]

2 minutes ago, 5thelement said:

Yet the data, (if it exists), isn’t in the public domain, and no COSHH advice has been published  by HSE/AFAG in regard to chipping Cherry Laurel, even after all these car crashes, deaths and acute headaches/nausea/vomiting being reported. 

Don't start them off, they just love a good crisis to manage! Common sense rules....

[5thelement]

1 hour ago, PeteB said:

Don't start them off, they just love a good crisis to manage! Common sense rules....

That’s my point. If there was even the slightest chance for them to get involved, they would have been all over it, they haven’t and still aren’t.