05-21-2008, 09:10 AM
Hello Everyone,
Your concerns for the release of a biological organism to fight strawberry guava are the same concerns researchers had decades ago. Because of those concerns, laws have been put into place that protect us from serious oops's!
The mongoose is a bad example because it was not done with any sort of research at all. It was not done by government, instead, it was done by sugar farmers or ranchers from foreign lands who "thought it would be a good idea". NO research involved.
That was "yester-year", over a hundred years ago. I think we should give our federal and state departments of agriculture a little more credit and a lot of thanks, for the many years of careful, quarantined research that has gone on, in order to make this possible.
Biological controls don't normally kill its host. So for anyone who's afraid of waiawi disappearing, please don't fret. THAT WOULD TAKE A MIRACLE, not a magic wand or a biocontrol. Waiawi won't disappear, but if its numbers are reduced significantly, then the native forest will have a chance to survive.
For example, a biological control for MICONIA was released about eight or ten years ago. It hasn't become a problem, and it hasn't killed all the Miconia. But it's killin' some!