An advisor to President George W Bush has reportedly claimed that global warming is a fallacy created to disrupt the American economy, in an interview on BBC Radio 4. Myron Ebell, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), claimed that the notion of climate change through man-made emissions was “ridiculous and unrealistic”.

The views of the UK’s chief scientist Sir David King – who stated that global warming posed a bigger threat to the planet than terrorism – were dismissed by Ebell as ‘a ridiculous claim’, and Sir David an ‘alarmist’. The European Commission was also accused by Ebell of targeting the American economy through efforts to develop an international climate change strategy.

Environmentalists responded by calling the CEI spokesperson’s claims “idiocy”.

A statement from the Greenpeace organisation read; “The world's best climate scientists agree the threat is real and growing. It is terrifying that this man is advising the White House on the gravest threat this planet faces. This kind of idiocy would be a mere distraction if it were not for the fact that Bush believes this nonsense. If Tony Blair really regards global warming as a huge threat, like he says he does, he needs to give the President a dose of straight talking the next time they meet.”

Greenpeace has also highlighted the fact that the CEI has received backing of around $1.5m from Esso since 1998.

© 2004 Greenmedia Publishing Ltd.