in a British science magazine headed "Dirty Bermuda Boycotts Summit''.

And she is even more furious at the person whose comments fuelled the article -- Bermuda's so-called "green'' MP Mr. Stuart Hayward.

"Bermuda, the most environmentally unsound country in the world, is one of a handful of small nations that have refused to send an official delegation to the Earth Summit,'' Mr. Hayward is quoted as saying in the New Scientist article.

The Independent MP made the comments in a speech to a fringe group at the Earth Summit last month in Brazil, the magazine said.

Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto charged it was the second time this summer Mr. Hayward had "run down'' Bermuda in the international press.

In the September issue of a top US travel magazine, Mr. Hayward called Bermuda "the isles of stress'' and "the number one polluter on the globe''. He also told Conde Nast Traveller that Bermuda was overdeveloped.

Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto said this time Mr. Hayward had "denigrated his homeland to such an extent the editor headlined the story `Dirty Bermuda Boycotts Summit'.'' Mr. Hayward called the headline "ugly'' when contacted last month by The Royal Gazette after a Bermudian on holiday in Britain spotted the article and informed local media.

And in a letter to The Royal Gazette this week, he defended his comments to Conde Nast Traveller, saying they were just "a few morsels of environmental truth''.

He said he thought most of the article was favourable to the Island. But Mrs.

Cartwright DeCouto said: "I am appalled to find Stuart Hayward running down our beautiful Island, where we are blessed to live, particularly as a member of Parliament elected to serve the country's best interests.

"I can only assume he wanted to get the attention of the international press to polish his image as an environmental guru, and was prepared to sacrifice Bermuda at the altar of personal gain.'' The Minister said Mr. Hayward's trip was "evidently paid for by his supporters''.

"The question that pops into my mind is whether he was speaking for himself when he made these people think Bermuda was dirty, or for his backers,'' she said. "Do they approve of what he said?'' Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto defended Government not sending a party to the environmental summit, saying Bermuda "is not independent, therefore not entitled to send an official delegation''.

She said Government had asked to be represented by the British delegation.

"We might have sent unofficial observers, but the country is in a recession,'' she said.

"What kind of example would we have been setting to send people to Rio to a conference in which we could not take part, and at which the British Government was representing our interests?'' In the article, Mr. Hayward is also quoted as saying, "International statistics show us as the world's leading per capita consumer of energy and producer of garbage . .. I ask what would happen if all the world behaved like Bermuda.'' He also said Bermuda had lost 10 percent of its farmland to development over the last decade.

But Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto pointed out the results would not be "nearly so startling'' if the 450,000-odd tourists who come each year are taken into account.

And she asked, "Is there anywhere else in the world which so agonises about development as we do? How many other countries have such stringent planning and building rules? How many other countries in the world as sophisticated as our own produce such small quantities of greenhouse gases?. How many other countries take such care to preserve the marine environment?'' Last night Mr. Hayward accused Mrs. DeCouto of "jumping on a bandwagon'' of personal attacks against him.

Mr. Hayward said Government had a terrible environmental record, only acting at the last gasp.

It had, for instance, let the turtle population dwindle.