The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) has kindly authorised the EJRR to publish the comments of SRA Past Presidents on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Going beyond news media accounts, these comments offer a first hand analysis of the effects of the oil spill on the field of risk analysis and risk regulation. Following the call for a moratorium on deep-sea drilling in Europe by Gunther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Energy, the publication of these comments seems particularly timely. (AA)