be relied upon? The news was made worse by admissions that it had been happening for at least 13 years and by claims that it was done because the station had insufficient funds to properly dispose of the waste. We have to wonder on what money could have been spent that was more important than the disposal of radioactive and toxic waste. That the Biological Station would dump this waste into the very ocean it strives to protect is nothing short of incredible.

Surely this is a situation where the institution has to be the purest of the pure. It is always a shock to find that the very people you thought were incorruptible guardians turn out to be, at best, careless.

We accept that the material dumped in the sea had a low level of radioactivity but the reality is that it was not sensible for the Bermuda Biological Station to dump anything into the sea. Having accepted that, it does not excuse the Bermuda Biological Station for dumping toxic waste which may be the more serious element of this whole affair.

Since The Royal Gazette story the Biological Station has engaged in a flurry of press releases trying to minimise the problem but without answering the claims. It cannot answer effectively because the accusations came from inside the Biological Station itself and the wrong was confirmed by other scientists.

It is interesting that much of the reassuring the Station has done since our story has been aimed at financial supporters and not at those who are concerned about the environment.

What emerges from the statements made by the Biological Station's own people is that the Station came to understand that it should not be dumping toxic waste, and began stockpiling the waste. It is stockpiling in the hope of arranging disposal in the United States but it seems to be concerned about the expense of such disposal. That must make us wonder what comes first in the Station's philosophy, cash or caution. The Station also seems prepared to engage in "don't do as we do, do as we say''.

The sea disposal of radioactive waste seems to have stopped only because there is now an international ban on such disposal. We would have thought that the Bermuda Biological Station instead of defending and minimising its dumping might have been a leader in promoting such a ban ... instead of waiting for a ban, an internationally recognised institution should have been setting a high standard. Surely, until now, people in Bermuda have thought of the Bermuda Biological Station as being above reproach. It is always a shock to realise that an icon is tarnished.