Caring for the Environment

Your editorial "The Earth Summit's Legacy," June 17, misleads readers by suggesting that cows are significant contributors to possible global warming. In fact, scientists have already proven that methane emitted through cows' natural digestion process makes no significant contribution to global-warming effects.

Dr. Duane Chapman of Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., recently noted that the methane emitted by one cow in a year had the same effect on global warming as the fuel burned to power a single 75-watt light bulb. He concluded that our money would be much better spent replacing 75-watt bulbs with 18-watt fluorescent bulbs than trying to regulate bovine belches. That's certainly information Americans can put to work in the wake of the Earth Summit. Gregory Ruehle, Washington, National Cattlemen's Association

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