Alien insects and plants...

[Sandy-Wroe]

Is it a good idea to brink a foreign insect into the country in order to try and control the spread of Japanese Knotweed? We might be taking one problem and doubling it.
The Australians introduced the Cane Toad a few years ago to try and deal with pests. The problem was that these toads ate anything smaller than themselves and anything bigger that tried to eat them was poisoned by the poison in the toads skin.

[Mr Veritas]

Bringing in an insect that we have no way of knowing how it will affect our countryside(much like,as you say,the cane toad) is asking for trouble.
We should be trying to rid ourselves of the knotweed by more holistic and ecological means.

[sophie_1003]

Have they not seen The Simpsons episode where this happens?? Instead of being overrun by knotweed we'll be overrun with this new insect. Then we'll have to bring in something else to deal with that, then something else to deal with that and so on and so forth!

[another-view]

We've had this earlier. http://www.theanswerb...k/Question871116.html