LONDON - Over 1,700 scientists in Britain have signed a statement defending the evidence for human-made climate change in the wake of hacked e-mails that emboldened climate skeptics.
E-mails stolen from an English university appeared to show scientists discussing ways to shield data from public scrutiny and suppress others' work. Climate skeptics -- those who deny that human activity is responsible for global warming -- have seized on the correspondence as evidence that scientists have conspired to hide the facts.
Most scientists say the e-mails do nothing to undermine the evidence for climate change.
More than 1,700 signed a statement released Thursday, saying they had confidence in the evidence for global warming "and the scientific basis for concluding that it is due primarily to human activities."
