EDITORIAL : DEBATE HEATS UP; GLOBAL WARMING DATA DOESN'T POINT TO IMMINENT CRISIS.

GLOBAL warming is a hot-button issue for President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. But the issue is a politically explosive one and the economic fallout far exceeds the health risks.

Delegates from 166 nations began meeting in Kyoto, Japan, on Monday to discuss how best to counter the threat of global warming.

The delegates are considering adopting a tougher, binding treaty on controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap the sun's heat in the Earth's atmosphere and threaten to change the planet's climate.

Clinton announced he is sending Gore to push the tougher standards. Clinton is among those claiming a scientific consensus has been reached that global warming is certain and its effects on humanity will be catastrophic. He points to a letter signed by 2,600 scientists.

But the evidence seems to support critics who charge that environmentalists are pushing a political agenda that is not supported by scientific data and fact.

A group called Citizens for a Sound Economy claims fewer than 10 percent of the 2,600 ``scientists'' know anything about climate science.

Other scientists challenge the whole global warming theory. The most accurate temperature measurements from NASA satellites show a slight cooling trend.

The former head of the National Weather Satellite Service,Fred Singer, a climatologist from the University of Virginia, confirms that satellite measurements of atmospheric temperature reveal no increase over the past 18 years - since data has been collected.

Many experts argue that the global warming theory is based on faulty computer models and more research is needed before governments take drastic steps.

If the United States signs a treaty to reduce our own greenhouse emissions while exempting all developing countries, there could be a massive transfer of American jobs to those countries and no global reductions in greenhouse gases. It also means Americans would pay drastically higher gasoline and home heating bills.

The bottom line is that the United States should adopt a cautious stance toward controlling global warming and take a skeptical view of any environmentalists who are politicizing science.