Harry E. Cotugno’s criticism ("Gallup Study Figures On Greenhouse Effect," Letters, Dec. 18) of your Dec. 2 editorial is disingenuous. There is hardly any disagreement about the fact that the global climate warmed, by about 1 degree Fahrenheit, since 1880, mostly before 1940. It is significant, however, that in the 1991 Gallup poll only 19% of scientists thought the increase was human-induced, while 29% said that the "increase was within the range of normal fluctuation." By now, of course, an even greater majority believes that the sharp increase before 1940 was mostly a natural recovery from the Little Ice Age of the previous centuries. Incidentally, this group includes Prof. Bert Bolin, the outgoing chairman of the U.N. science advisory group (IPCC), whose misinterpreted 1996 report forms the basis of the just-concluded Kyoto agreements.

S. Fred Singer, PH.D. President
The Science & Environmental Policy Project
Fairfax, Va.