Mexican environmentalists are demanding that the Felipe Calderón administration do something to prevent the massive oil spill off the U.S. coast in the Gulf of Mexico from reaching this country's coast. “The implications involve water quality, plants and animals, and the beaches and economies in certain areas,” Gustavo Alanís, president of the non-governmental Mexican Center for Environmental Law, told Tierramérica.

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has been monitoring the coasts of five Mexican states on the Gulf that could be affected, and warns that a lawsuit against British Petroleum (BP) remains an option.

Alanís called for reviewing Mexico's laws on deepwater oil wells in the Gulf.

A platform that BP had contracted blew up and sank on Apr. 22, causing an oil leak that is likely to be one of the worst in world history.