Gulf oil leak: Biggest ever, but how bad?

Following release of the US government's latest estimate, the Deepwater Horizon disaster is confirmed as the biggest ever accidental release of oil into the oceans.

It exceeds the 1979 Ixtoc I leak - also in the Gulf of Mexico. It's comfortably bigger than tanker releases such as the Torrey Canyon and Amoco Cadiz, and 20 times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill with which it is often compared.

Now that BP finally appears to have the flow under control, an important question - perhaps the most important of all - is being asked: it may have been the biggest, but was it the worst?

BBCNews and environment continues the debate and for more information on the BP Oil Spillage visit this excellent site dealing with all aspects of the impact of the oil spill.