Would the “precautionary principle” have averted the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?

It's now the largest and most devastating oil spill in U.S. history, even bigger than the infamous Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, caused by an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig 40 miles south of the Louisiana coastline on April 20, is coating the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the marshlands that are home to hundreds of species of birds and marine life.

Professor Stephen Scharper, associate professor of anthropology at U of T Mississauga and at U of T's Centre for Environment, provides perspective on the spill and how it might have been averted.

To read the full story by Paul Fraumeni, please click here.