Storms are Man's fault, says Prince
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor

THE storms lashing Britain are, like the BSE disaster, the result of mankind's "arrogant disregard" for the delicate balance of nature, the Prince of Wales said yesterday.

 He told a conference on medicine: "We have to find a way of ensuring that our remarkable and seemingly beneficial advances in technology do not just become the agents of our own destruction." 

The Prince's remarks came a week before 160 nations begin talks in the Hague on strengthening the Kyoto climate change treaty, and as torrential rain brought renewed misery to thousands of homeowners and commuters. Barely a region was spared as the Environment Agency issued 41 severe flood warnings on 27 rivers. Many rivers are not expected to peak until late tonight or tomorrow. The Met Office forecast that up to 1.5 inches of rain will fall in some parts today.

 The Prince's comments show him firmly on the side of scientists who point to the worsening intensity of winter downpours as evidence that man-made global warming has already begun, and tacitly out of sympathy with the fuel tax protesters. Scientists who point to measurable changes in the climate over the last century as visible signs of global warming avoid attributing any particular storm or weather event to global warming because the climate will always be variable.

 But the Prince chose to make no such qualification. He told the Millennium Festival of Medicine in London, which was organised by the British Medical Association: "As it did in the 19th century, medicine will once again have to consider the impact of pestilence and famine on human health. A new danger is the transfer of infective organisms between the animal kingdom and man, and the terrifying potential of environmental changes with their serious effects on health.

 "Some recent occurrences such as the BSE disaster and even perhaps - dare I mention it - the present severe weather conditions in our country are, I have no doubt, the consequences of mankind's arrogant disregard of the delicate balance of nature. There is no doubt that we live in an age of unprecedented, and sometimes terrifying, technological advance where the speed of advance so often outstrips the necessary ethical considerations."

 The Prince said that the human genome project "fascinates and alarms in equal combinations". The development of a genetic map of the human body promised new techniques in identifying and treating diseases with a genetic component and potentially tailoring drugs to the individual, but the project also raised "important issues of bioethics".

 Just as important as scientific and technical advances was the healing relationship between doctors and other health professionals and their patients, he told the meeting. Prince Charles also called for a growing recognition of the "potentially powerful" role of complementary therapies.

 A spokesman for the Met Office said last night: "We agree with the Prince's sentiments. While there is dispute as to the proportion of global warming brought about by human influence and natural variability we, among many other scientists, agree that a significant part is down to human influence."
 

5 November 2000: Are we to blame for this?