H. Sterling Burnett and Merrill Matthews Jr.

About the author: H. Sterling Burnett is an environmental policy analyst. Merrill Matthews Jr. is vice president of domestic policy at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, Texas.

Global warming cannot be blamed for the spread of communicable tropical diseases. Prior to the nineteenth century, when the world was cooler, tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever abounded in the United States. In today's warmer world, however, malaria and yellow fever are rare in the United States— although similar illnesses are relatively common in Mexico. Overall, outbreaks of tropical disease have been on the decline globally. The epidemics that do occur in some regions are the result of poverty and poor medical care—not global warming.

Over the past few years the...