Recent controversy over the quality of climate research has "really shaken the confidence of the public in the conduct of science [overall],” Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences,
said at a conference Friday.
At the same time, top scientists at the meeting
continued to say that action on climate change is needed.
"There's consensus that action is justified, indeed imperative to reduce the problem of a really serious long-term global effect on the climate," said Lord Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, Britain's academy of science.