LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Another ship in trouble and the long- term impact of this one could be devastating: An Italian tanker carrying 6,000 tons of toxic chemicals sank today off the coast of France as it was being towed to port. Its 14-member crew was taken off the stricken vessel before it went down. Severe storms that are plaguing Britain and France right now led to the ship's demise. CNN's Natalie Pawelski joins us this morning to focus on the environmental impact. This is going to be a big one, isn't it?</s>NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could be. There are so many factors that will determine whether or not it's a big one. The chemical that people are most worried about that spilled is called Styrene. It's a petrochemical that's toxic in the short run and a suspected carcinogen in the long run. Whether or not the chemical sort of breaks up or disperses will depend on wave action, water action. Even the temperature of the water can affect it. And so, that will determine whether it causes problems for the environment or not.</s>HARRIS: All right. And as I understand it, we heard earlier this morning that this is not the first time that there has been this kind of a disaster in that area. Is that true?</s>PAWELSKI: Well, this does have some antecedents. This area just had an oil spill about 10 months ago. A tanker called the Erika dumped a lot of crude oil a little bit further down the coast of Brittany. There's also precedent for Styrene spills. There have three that we found. Probably the best parallel would be a spill in 1992 along the Intercoastal Waterway in Louisiana, where a lot of fish died, but from what we've seen, there has been no long-term environmental effect.</s>HARRIS: OK. Well, here's hoping that the best comes out of this one. Natalie Pawelski, thanks much. We'll talk to you later on.
Italian Tanker Carrying Toxic Chemicals Sinks off the Coast of France