Hemp as a Biofuel??

[spadlet]

Originally Posted by Cricket Tragic

Canola is the same as oilseed rape, but not exactly the same as rape. Canola was invented in Canada and Canola is short for Canadian oilseed (well sort of). The Europeans when they adopted it decided to call it something different.

What you smell is not pollen. It is isothiocyanates. Canola, like most mustards, contains glucosinolates, which are broken down into isothiocyanates when the cells are damaged. Mustard gas, used in WWI, was an isothiocyanate. There is a faint sulfur smell.

So could it be an irritant to children for reasons other than the pollen?

In an attempt to resolve the different opinions that are being expressed here I commited the terrible crime of using Google. This website was produced Oilseed Rape Allergy Syndrome

The avoidance of planting the crops near schools seems to have been voluntary by the farmers to avoid potential problems, rather than a legal requirement in the UK. There appears to be contoversy over the theory that Oil Seed Rape affects humans in a way that is either specifically related to the plant or significantly grater that the effects of any other similar plant.

[Cricket Tragic]

Spadlet, you shouldn’t feel sinful about Google, but you do need to be discriminating. If you want to find scientific research, Google Scholar is a better place to begin.

Dealing with the website you found. Despite its web address, this is a private website with no endorsement from Government or the scientific sector. This private individual has a view that oilseed rape causes respiratory illness. A search of PubMed (the most complete directory of medical literature) produces information on the following connections with allergy:

1) Food allergies. Canola seed contains 2S albumins that produce a skin-prick reaction on some children with food allergies. These are known allergens from many seeds. Nut allergens belong to this class, for example. Children with this sensitivity were frequently sensitive to a wide range of foods. This suggests the skin-prick reaction to rape and turnip seed is more likely a cross-reactivity than produced by exposure to rape seed per se.
Sensitization to turnip rape and oilseed rape in c...[Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2008] - PubMed Result
Napins, 2S albumins, are major allergens in oilsee...[J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2006] - PubMed Result
Turnip rape and oilseed rape are new potential foo...[Allergy. 2006] - PubMed Result

2) Rape pollen contains proteins with similarity to those in grass pollen that produce reactions in sera tests. Similar proteins will be found in all pollens. So potentially all pollens are plausible allergens.
Identification of allergens in oilseed rape (Brass...[Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 1998] - PubMed Result
Oilseed rape pollen is a potentially relevant alle...[Clin Exp Allergy. 1997] - PubMed Result
Identification of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) po...[Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2003] - PubMed Result

In reality, the incidence of allergy to pollens is therefore dependent on exposure. Pollen present in the air will be much more likely to create an allergic reaction than pollen that is rarely present in the air. Epidemiological studies (as opposed to lab sera studies) indicate that allergy to oilseed rape pollen is very rare, mostly associated with allergies to other pollens and generally limited to those with occupational exposure. Canola pollen is rarely found in air measurements, except within a field.
Oilseed rape--a new allergen? [Clin Exp Allergy. 1992] - PubMed Result
Oilseed rape and seasonal symptoms: epidemiologica...[Thorax. 1994] - PubMed Result

Allergy from occupational exposure occurs occasionally with vegetable growing and also occurs with broccoli and cauliflower for example. Those working in the fields get more opportunity for exposure.
Brassica oleracea pollen, a new source of occupati...[Allergy. 2006] - PubMed Result

The majority of the concern that oilseed rape may present an allergy problem is centred in Scotland. A search of PubMed for allergies connected with canola (what the rest of the world calls this crop) yielded a single reference of importance, the same as one of the oilseed rape references.

I mentioned previously that oilseed rape/canola produces glucosinolates that become degraded into isothiocyanates on cell destruction. It is possible to generate respiratory symptoms (similar to those in the picture illustrated on the website) by crushing the leaves of the plant and rubbing the extract into your eyes or nasal passages. Children playing in oilseed rape crops may expose themselves to concentrations of isothiocyanates sufficiently high to get a reaction. Equally, children playing in wheat crops may get nasty skin rashes from the edges of the leaves.

[Wobs]

Originally Posted by forfismum

Rape pollen is highly irritating to kids with asthma and it produces lots of it ! It is also a shitty thing to have near you if you have bees as the honey is murder to get out of the frames.

Oh that's very informative, thank you!
This area is one of the best for rapeseed, and I know someone who wants to do some beekeeping.

[forfismum]

Almost forgot to come back on this,but yer rapeseed honey sets too fast for most beekeepers liking and its shit if you are expecting clover or apple honey and you get this glop mixed in.Its not a native crop to the British Isles and should be left to grow in the colonies where they are not used to fine honeys from single sources.
The pollen problem is a menace to kids as again,being a new crop ,kids have no immunity to its effects.Ditto for the stinky smell which is an irritant to tender nostrils.Tree pollen in these parts is an intermittant problem ,most trees only produce large quantitites every 5 to 10 years and the warning signs are there early enough for kids to take avoiding action.Ever hear of a Mast year?.Same with native grasses.I think we got our own back on the colonists by sending them Rosebay Willow Herb.

[Windguy]

I wasn't expecting people to eat the produce from using sewerage. But it wouldn't harm being fertiliser for biofuel, or even growing something like algae off and dumping it into an underground mine to offset the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels. I had played a bit with these figures but for $40 Aus per ton to offset CO2 (about 2.5 tons) for 1 ton of coal would only add between 30 to 50% of the cost of coal and would equal nuclear and wind costs per unit of electricity produced. Maybe a decent initial start to ending global warming.

The other benefit is algae can clean the atmosphere of other toxic pollutants quite well, to be buried for another few million years until the next American empire rises again (after WW3 and we go back to the apes).

One further point 1 ton of (dried) algae vs 2.5 tons of geosequestered CO2 that could eventually escape seems like there is no competition.

As for canola, I don't know as it would be hard to tell compared to the other 90% of the year I have continuous hayfever.

[Cricket Tragic]

Originally Posted by forfismum

Its not a native crop to the British Isles and should be left to grow in the colonies ... The pollen problem is a menace to kids as again,being a new crop ,kids have no immunity to its effects.

The centre of origin for Brassica napus is believed to be the Mediterranean or Northern Europe. Given it is an allotetraploid, it may have evolved more than once. It has been grown in Europe since the 13th Century and reported from Great Britain from the 14th Century. The modern oilseed forms are simply the older rape plants with the glucosinolates and erucic acid bred out of their seed.

Kids are very unlikely to pick up any amount of pollen, unless they go around sticking flowers up their noses.