Abstract
The fact that some invasive species provide economic benefits cannot be taken as a strong incentive to their further introduction, despite the potential ecological risks. Economic benefits are often gained by one sector of society while the costs are borne by the wider public.
The history of biological invasions in Europe has too many examples of shortsighted decisions targeting perceived economic gains that have resulted in much larger (and often irreversible) costs to society. Therefore precautionary to biological invasions is necesasry in Europe.