You Were Asking?

by Winifride Prestwich

Could you suggest a book - preferably not too expensive - which would help me in answering the many people who argue for population control, limiting the number of children per family, etc. - R.M., Ajax, Ont.

There are many books, and one excellent publication I think you would find useful is the Handbook on Population by Robert L. Sassone. The format is particularly helpful in getting quick answers. It is packed with relevant facts and statistics on specific questions about population, global warming, etc. If you cannot obtain a copy locally, you can write to The American Life League which publishes it. The address is: P.O. Box 1350, Stafford, Va., 22555, U.S.A. My copy, a couple of years ago, cost $4 (US). It may be more now, but it is worth every cent.

The Pathfinder Fund is often listed along with other pro-abortion agencies, but what is the Fund? - M.T., Kamloops, B.C.

The Pathfinder Fund was founded in 1929 by Dr. Charles Gamble in Boston. Its aim was to fund new methods of birth control. It became a major promoter of abortion, including very early abortions by "menstrual regulation" or "menstrual induction." While many agencies covered their (often-illegal) abortions by these terms, the Pathfinder Fund stated openly: "Pathfinder is encouraging the establishment of abortions as a woman's right. We are promoting the early abortion procedure known as ‘menstrual induction' through publications, distribution of instruments and direct grants" (Pathfinder promotional pamphlet, issued circa 1975).

What is the Club of Rome? Is it a force for Population Control? - B.D., Sherbrooke, P.Q.

The Club of Rome is an organization which was founded in 1968 by an Italian, Aurelio Peccei. At one time, Peccei was a top executive with Fiat and Olivetti. The Club is composed of an elitist group - reportedly about 200 in number - of leaders in finance, science, politics, education and religion from around the world. They believe in global control (that is, United Nations control) of energy, resources, the economy, the environment, and population. They have promoted the idea of creating a UN Environmental Security Council, like the Security Council on military matters. More recently, the Club has turned its attention to promoting a New World religion - definitely not a religion based on belief in one God, Christianity, Judaism or Islam, but one of the New Age variety.

In 1991, a report by the Council of the Club of Rome, entitled The First Global Revolution, contained this extract: "In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fill the bill ... All these dangers are caused by human intervention ... The real enemy, then, is humanity itself."

Almost 20 years earlier, in 1972, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had prepared a report, Limits to Growth , for the Club of Rome. The report, a typical gloom-and-doom effort by the environmental/population-control support groups, sold millions of copies in some 30 languages, but was thoroughly discredited by world-renowned scientists and scholars. One Nobel Prize winner, economist Gunnar Myrdal, said the report "may impress the innocent general public, but has little, if any, scientific validity ... It represents quasi-learnedness of a type that we have, for a long time, had too much of." Another expert, Christopher Freeman, in Models of Doom: A Critique of Limits of Growth (1975), scathingly dismissed the MIT team as "Malthus with a computer."

Today, 25 years after the MIT report, the Club of Rome is still singing its old song: "Too many people."

Did two Nobel prize-winners really promote infanticide? If so, who were they and what did they say? - M.P., Thunder Bay, Ont.

In 1973, the same year as Roe v. Wade, the Nobel laureate James Watson declared that: "If a child is not declared alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed the choice only a few are given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering. I believe this view is the only rational comprehensive attitude to have."

In 1978, another Nobel prize-winner, Francis Crick, stated that "no newborn infant should be declared human until it has passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment, and that if it fails these tests, it forfeits the right to live."