Birth control: Halting population explosion

By Judie Falloon

"Cancer is a disease of unrestrained growth, and man has become the cancer of the world," said Mr. R. J. Rose, speaking at a seminar on Overpopulation held in the Memorial Theatre last Sunday. Mr. Rose, a statistician for the World Health Organisation, was the first of five speakers at the seminar, which was chaired by Professor John Roberts.

The seminar was organised by International Affairs Officer, Mike King, in connection with the Appeal for Population Control which is holding a house to house collection in Wellington on Saturday, June 24.

Mr. Rose spoke of the incapacity of man to prepare for dangers which are bound to happen. "Mankind today is putting on a cap to protect himself from the monsters of war and famine." he said. "We must think in terms of the world."

He emphasised the urgency of the population problem by saying from the beginning of the Christian era until the sixteenth century the population of the world doubled; it redoubled by 1850, and by, 1960 it had trebled—in 110 years. "Today the world contains around 3500 million people." he said. "By the: year 2000 it will contain 7000 million people."

Mr. Rose explained the tremendous increase in population as being the result of a number of factors: the effect of early and universal marriage, as in India; decreased mortality, especially infant mortality: better physical health generally.

He spoke of what Japan is doing to counteract population growth, in the form of legalised abortion, a campaign for sterilisation and castration and for later marriage, and by rewarding people who are judicious in restricting and spacing families. "Japan's birth-rate has dropped from 35 to 17 per cent," he said. The only hope is birth control, and it is urgently needed. Birth control information gives people a chance to have the number of children they want," he said.

"There is no simple panacea like birth control to apply holus bolus throughout the world." said Dr. Watters. He emphasised the need to approach each country's population problems in a different way. In Africa the problem can be blamed on narrowly-based economies, inadequate educational systems, the fail-ure of colonial powers to prepare countries for independence, followed by the excesses of anti-colonialism, which often detract from local development. He spoke of dual economies, where there is great development in the cities and the fertile plains, contrasted with great peasant areas of traditionalism, untouched by modernisation.

"There is a lack of skilled agronomists, to show peasants with their own hands what they should do. Africa must have better international trade agreements, mixed economies, and a measure of socialism, because with capitalism the profits go outside the country. She must also have economic planning, with an emphasis on technical and agronomic education, and protected native industries."

He saw the problem in Asia as a scarcity of resources per head, a problem which can only be solved by massive social change, because the value system is not in harmony with modern planning. "India needs efficient leaders, who will push through genuine agrarian reforms, stimulate development," he said.

"In Latin America the technical solutions are well known: It is a problem of alienation from the masses, and a consequent failure to apply proven knowledge. Social change is needed here also, not just the pill."

"We must look at each country and region and analyse the nature of the problem. Some Latin American countries claim that they need more people, to colonise virgin lands, as in Brazil."

Dr. Alice Bush, president of the New Zealand Family Planning Association, and in charge of liaison between the NZPPA and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), spoke about the work of the organisations with which she is associated. The IPPF is a federation of voluntary organisations, each developed in its own country, best fitted to see its own problems and work out acceptable solutions. The IPPF offers practical help in the education of people in all methods of family planning. The money earned by the Appeal for Population Control in New Zealand is sent to the IPPF to assist it in its work, she said.

"One dollar spent on family planning is worth twenty times the amount of one dollar spent on any other kind of aid." But she did emphasise some motivation must be offered for people to want to space out their families, in the form of education on family management, and raising the standard of child care.

Dr. Battacharyya, of the VUW Economics Department, speaking about the economic aspects of the population explosion, said "the individual in an under-developed country doesn't feel responsible for social goals—he has to eke out a living somehow, so he goes through the usual processes of life in apathy and indifference and dependence on lack because it is all he knows." He pointed out that it is necessary to show these people how family limitation measures can affect the standard of living—"the success of population control measures is likely to be negligible unless they cover more ground and show the possibility of personal advancement through higher skills, the development of a taste for the amenities of life."

Dr. Battacharyya introduced a hopeful note saying there has been some improvement in the availability of food in India from 1950 to 1960, and experience in India has shown that it is possible that the rate of production growth will keep pace with population growth if the right measures are taken.

Dr. Erich Geiringer, Organiser of the Appeal for Population Control, said the problems associated with the population explosion were just part of a continual process of problem, solution and more problems engendered by the solution to the first problem. "We should be aware of the problems created by population control, and be ready to counteract them." The problems which he foresaw were that the breakdown of cultural values would be speeded up, and a period of disturbance could be expected before new attitudes to family life and the place of women evolved. A second problem would be the disturbance to the population pyramid, by reducing the number of children.

He prophesied a "second age of innocence." saying "we are entering a phase in which men and women will become partners again." On this basis alone, he said, birth control should be encouraged.