LETTERS: OPPOSE U.N. TREATY ON CLIMATE

To the editor:

I am writing to express my deep concern over the Climate Change Treaty proposed by the United Nations. This treaty, if adopted this December, would have devastating effects upon the U.S. economy.

The purpose of this treaty is to stop the effects of global warming by imposing severe environmental and economic restrictions on only a handful of developed nations, including the U.S., while exempting 132 of 166 developing nations. Yet the treaty would only serve to cripple the American economy, with many experts predicting it would cause thousands of immediate job layoffs, fuel increases of nearly 50 percent overnight, skyrocketing costs in all consumer goods and the relocation of major U.S. industries overseas.

Is such economic catastrophe worth it, especially when global warming is a hotly debated theory, not a fact? Not only is there no proof that the planet is actually warming up, but a planet-wide cooling trend has been documented over the past five decades.

We must not commit the United States to any agreement that would impose such drastic cutbacks and hardships on Americans, nor should we agree to any treaty that could topple our nation's economic structure.

Even worse than the devastating economic results of this treaty would be the tragic loss of American sovereignty to the U.N. We must never let that happen, certainly not for a mythical global warming.

SELMA M. CRISLER

Cape Girardeau