Ecoaccidents

Dr. Hueck explains in the "History and Development of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop" some ideas on the genesis of the Workshop. The reader should understand that this volume is a preliminary analysis of a problem that has not received much attention. The case histories, for example, are illustrative because one volume cannot include all histories, or even those in Europe. Consequently, case histories are lacking on many parts of the world, including central Europe and North America, not because these are unimportant or less disastrous ecologically than the case histories covered, but because selecting only a few illustrative cases was possible. The geographic and ecological coverage was originally much broader, but, unfortunately, some participants were unable to attend and this resulted in an even more skewed distribution geographically. However, participants generally agreed that the information necessary to analyze the problem was covered in sufficient depth by those in attendance and that other case histories would have been interesting, but would probably not have caused substantive changes in the conclusions or recommendations. The Workshop organizers did not selectively choose people, companies, or countries to the exclusion of others. The committee selected a broad array of people, countries, and industries, and the participants were those able to corne, prepare a manuscript, and meet the other conditions. Thus, what appears to be a skewed distribution was not planned as such, but was the consequence of people being unable to attend for various reasons.