Scientists warn against climate change 'hysteria'

A group of scientists has written to MPs asking for a Royal Commission to be established to investigate climate change.
The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition said in its letter, released today, that it believed the public was being given incomplete, inaccurate and biased information about the effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
"This information is often tainted by the emotional arguments of the environmental movement and seldom stands up to objective scientific analysis," the group said in the letter.
"Claims that the world is threatened by dangerous global warming caused by man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are widely propagated but cannot be substantiated."
The Government is reviewing its climate change policy, and the group said it was "vitally important" that it based its decisions on valid scientific evidence rather than on "questionable projections of flawed computer models and discredited temperature assessments".
"The present misinformation circulating about global warming resembles the recent hysteria surrounding genetic modification," the group said.
"An independent Royal Commission made an excellent job of bringing out the scientific facts about genetic modification, and provided sensible and reasoned advice to government.
"We believe that in the present environment a similar process is the best way to examine climate change."
The letter is signed by the coalition's chairman, retired Rear Admiral Jack Welch, on behalf of 13 scientists including weather forecaster Augie Auer, Professor Bob Carter and Associate Professor Chris de Freitas.