Pollution casts cloud over visit

Date: 23/10/1997

Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard recently had to cancel a planned trip to examine the extent of the damage caused by the forest fires raging in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Nothing particularly unusual in that, Entre Nous hears you say: Commissioners are quite often obliged to change their plans at the last minute.

However, the reason for striking this particular event from the official diary was well, rather odd.

Bjerregaard - whose job to a very large extent entails trying to work out ways of combating pollution - decided not to visit the two South East Asian states because they were too polluted.

Perhaps Bjerregaard's colleagues might consider a similar approach to future engagements with, say, Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler calling off a planned visit to a farm amid fears that there might be an unusually high number of animals present, or Research Commissioner Edith Cresson cancelling a speech at a conference on research and development on the grounds that there might be too many scientists in the audience.