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Oil slicks in the North Sea and Baltic Sea: even in the face of overwhelming
evidence, polluters may delay legal proceedings endlessly by denying their responsibility.
Over a period of several years, the BSH laboratory has developed a method allowing
oil samples to be identified with absolute reliability - an individual "finger
print" which makes it possible to convict a polluter without any doubt.
A sample from the suspected polluter's tank is all that it takes; its chemical
composition is compared to that of sample from the oil slick. Our database presently
contains the fingerprints of some 1,000 samples. The BSH is looking back on
more than 950 cases worldwide, even in New Zealand, where its oil identification
method has been used successfully in court proceedings - this should deter any
potential polluter.
COSI
- Computerized Oil Spill Identification (Powerpoint file)
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