Dangerous plant spreads in region

As giant hogweed spreads across the South, the NHS have issued the following advice for anyone who comes into contact with the plant. Contact with the plant can cause severe, painful burns and make your skin sensitive to strong sunlight.

The threat of the giant hogweed - a plant that can blister, burn, and blind - is being taken seriously, say authorities in the south east.

Along riverbanks, like the Medway in Kent, they've been spraying and cutting back the plant, which can reach fifteen feet high.

But despite their efforts, it's spreading elsewhere - and at an alarming rate. And with its spread, comes the warning from plant experts and environmentalists, that the weed is dangerous. And unless efforts to eradicate it are redoubled, more people will be injured.

Abigail Bracken reports on the hogweed menace.

Giant hogweed is spreading throughout the region and has left several people with severe burns. In other parts of the country, children have received third degree burns.

One child unknowingly sheltered from the rain under giant hogweed.

She said, “I was out with my dad fishing, and it was raining and I was underneath a big bush. It didn’t burn straight away. I woke up in the morning and my hands were just pure red.”

Medical advice is to wash immediately with soap and water and stay out of the sunlight - this seems to activate the sap in Britain's most dangerous plant.

We will have a full report later today.