Readers' forum: Stick to facts

Sen. Bob Bennett, in a recent article ("On climate change, let sense rule," Dec. 5), cautioned us to use common sense in approaching controversial subjects. With that object in mind, I would like to offer a counter to Brian Moench's fallacious comments in his recent "my view" article ("Storm escalates against air pollution," Dec. 6).

He cites an article in the Wall Street Journal about automobile exhaust contributing to the dumbing down of our children. He then equates that to the gases emitted from plants using fossil fuels, hinting at a Republican conspiracy. Any person who has taken high school chemistry knows that the bulk of automobile exhaust fumes is carbon monoxide, a deadly poisonous gas.

On the other hand, fossil-fuel using plants emit carbon dioxide, a benign gas that we human beings exhale with every breath. To even suggest that this is a contributing cause to brain damage staggers the imagination. I would hope that in similar articles in the future, proponents of one side or another would stick to the facts and refrain from inflicting scare tactics on the public

Don Anderson

Layton