Your thoughts????

[Nicos]

BBC News - Insect that fights Japanese knotweed to be released


this makes me feel very uneasy...and you????

[piskieinboots]

Sounds good in theory - but look what happened with the grey squirrels and, indeed, with the JK itself when 'introduced' to a non-indigenous area!!

As to what else it might eat - I'd guess at cabbage, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, runner beans, tomatoes, courgettes, roses, sweetpeas - sorry, can't continue, I'm running out of screen ink - too much to list .....

[King Carrot]

This is worth comparing (and learning from) with the ozzies introducing Cane Toads to sort out their problems with cane beetles - all I can say is that things worked out extremely well and not many cane beetles if any, eat the sugar cane any more…..in fact not much of anything eats anything else any more except cane toads eating anything they can fit in their gobs……… hurrah for humanity again, and our infinite and boundless wisdom

[Nicos]

..in fact not much of anything eats anything else any more except cane toads eating anything they can fit in their gobs………

Spot on!

Cane Toads in Australia

[Flummery]

My comment this morning to Himself was "What's the betting they move on to brassicas?"

'They' reckon they've spent 7 years testing this and the insects just die when they run out of JKW sap. I await the resulting ecological disaster with dismay. OK, I'm a dismal old biddy - but I've had 61 years of watching people say - 'It'll never happen'and then watching the taxpayer foot the huge mopping up bill. (Assuming it CAN be mopped up). Yes, Nicos, I'm in the uneasy group - move over chuck!

[ginger ninger]

Looks like there playing god again to me...VERY slippery slop me thinks, makes me feel very uneasy, move over ladies, is there room for me?

[organic]

Idiots! It's like they've learned absolutely NOTHING from all the previous "trial" releases.

That they are even talking about a "trial" release sickens me. There's nothing "trial" about it.

One gust of wind at the wrong moment and there'll be an invasive insect that either feeds on something that's not been tested or adapts to eat something new (how often do we hear these same scientists banging on about how species adapt according to environmental pressures and eventually turn into humans?) and it'll be OUTSIDE the area they'll blitz with the pesticide and herbicide they've got "on standby for rapid response". So in short...
They are going to release an alien species on a "trial" basis - which means nothing - they are just releasing it.
If they have a sneaking suspicion that it's eating something other than knotweed they'll dump a load of poison all over the place and more than likely not kill the insects.

Great! I feel SO much better now.

Iditos. Idiots. IDIOTS!

[Glutton4...]

Shove up you lot, make room for another...


I'm not sure 'idiots' is a strong-enough word!

[sweetiepea]

Today's solution tomorrow's problem. Enough said.

[organic]

Shove up you lot, make room for another...


I'm not sure 'idiots' is a strong-enough word!

It isn't anything like strong enough.
I didn't want to get banned from the forum for using more appropriate words though.

[louisesgarden]

What i cant understand is why the 2 release sites are secret ???? is this because if it goes wrong they can deny all knowledge ?

[Flummery]

What i cant understand is why the 2 release sites are secret ???? is this because if it goes wrong they can deny all knowledge ?

ALLEGEDLY so that people desperate for a solution to their own problem won't come and nick insects and move them.

And if you believe that ...

[Nicos]

What i cant understand is why the 2 release sites are secret ???? is this because if it goes wrong they can deny all knowledge ?

Quite possibly- but I reckon it'll be cos the sites are in Scotland...historically-we test everything out in Scotland first don't we???

...and the cold winters would kill off the bugs if it goes wrong .....hmmm...that doesn't sound so stupid does it?????


Bound to be somewhere else then!

[Flummery]

Said to be in the south of England by the man on the wireless this morning.

[Nicos]

Said to be in the south of England by the man on the wireless this morning.

bound to be Scotland then!!!!

I wonder if any one has checked up on it's toxicity as a food source to birds and other wildlife????I can't seem to find anything on Google!