Importance of the Precautionary Principle

Less than a fortnight ago, much of Europe was grounded by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano. The airline business was swift to complain that European civil aviation officials were overly cautious, but most people would prefer this kind of disruption to a calamitous accident.

At around the same time aircraft were returning to British skies, the rig component of a deep sea oil well and pipeline complex belonging to BP - British Petroleum - exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people. However, the possible wider impact of this incident does not seem to have been fully acknowledged by the company, the US Coastguard, or the government in Washington....until too late.

This failure to fully acknowledge the potential consequences of the oil rig explosion at the time of the incident may have been due to a number of factors, including the impending announcement of BP's annual profits and the United States Government's plans to extend drilling in the Gulf.

Whatever the reason, the outcome may be the US's worst ever environmental disaster, bringing devastation to marine and other wildlife, as well as to the livelihoods of people engaged in industries such as fishing and tourism.

The economic collusion of big business and national governments is always a clear and present danger, as the recent banking crisis has revealed. This is precisely why the precautionary principle and timely intervention by regulatory authorities are so important in disaster prevention and management, even if this time it's the environment, stupid !