I have read one of the report ( Strategy for the Ex Situ Conservation of Lathyrus(grass pea), with special reference to Lathyrus sativus, L. cicera, L. ochrus Date: 30 October 2007) the consumption of Grasspea is harmful for human beings. Grass pea, Lathyrus sativus, is widely grown as a pulse crop in South Asia and Ethiopia, and to a more limited extent in West and Central Asia. In these regions, the dry seeds are harvested and cooked in a variety of ways as a human food. The species is also widely grown for animal feed and as forage. Because of the species’ extreme tolerance to difficult environmental conditions, including both drought and water-logging, it often survives when other crops are decimated. However, in years when conditions are particularly harsh, human consumption of the crop may increase –through lack of any suitable alternative, especially for the poorest rural people to a level at which there is a severe risk of the consumer succumbing to a neurological disorder, lathyrism, caused by the presence of a neurotoxin in the seed known as either beta-N-oxalyl-diamino-propionic acid (beta-ODAP) or beta-(N)-oxalylamino-L-alanine acid (BOAA). The toxicity results in irreversible paralysis, characterized by lack of strength in, or inability to move the lower limbs. It is particularly prevalent in some areas of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Nepal, and affects more men than women.

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http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php?id=111612

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J. M. Koli Some grasspea var. (Ratan, Prateek) have low BOAA . Can we think for ???