Environment: Flying Dutchman of Garbage

Hardly anyone noticed when the Dutch vessel Stella Maris steamed out of Rotterdam harbor last month with 600 tons of poisonous chlorified aliphatics on board. It had carried many similar cargoes before, and AKZO, the giant Dutch chemical complex that chartered the Stella Maris, routinely announced that the chemical wastes would be dumped far out at sea—900 miles from Holland and 600 miles from Norway. But somehow, a telex message informing Norway of the plan was garbled en route; instead of 600 miles, the printout read 60. As a result, the Stella Maris...