<p>kluge was right in his comparision with tobacco.</p>
<p>Science activists blast ExxonMobil on warming
Group claims company is following tobacco industry tactics</p>
<p>WASHINGTON - ExxonMobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in a coordinated effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday.</p>
<p>The report by the science-based nonprofit advocacy group mirrors similar claims by Britain’s leading scientific academy. Last September, The Royal Society wrote the oil company asking it to halt support for groups that “misrepresented the science of climate change.”</p>
<p>Tobacco tactic?
Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ strategy and policy director, said in a teleconference that ExxonMobil based its tactics on those of tobacco companies, spreading uncertainty by misrepresenting peer-reviewed scientific studies or cherry-picking facts.</p>
<p>Dr. James McCarthy, a professor at Harvard University, said the company has sought to “create the illusion of a vigorous debate” about whether humans are behind global warming.</p>
<p>At its annual meeting last year, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson viewed the science behind global warming with skepticism.</p>
<p>“The term scientific consensus is an oxymoron in itself,” Tillerson said when one shareholder suggested there was consensus on global warming.</p>
<p>“This is what’s perplexing to me. I come away from these conversations and ask ‘What exactly do they want?’ I don’t know what you want. We’re going to be an active participant in this debate. We’re just going to have to disagree.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16455825/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16455825/</a></p>