To be or not to be — Taiwan government will decide the question
Because of Taiwan’s falling birthrate the Department of Health (DOH), Republic of China (ROC), has decided “to abolish subsidies for contraceptives provided to married couples. The Free China Journal reports that, “In recent years, according to DOH statistics, the average number of children born to couples has fluctuated between 1.72 and l.86.” The multiple causes of the birth decline are seen as later marriages, infertility and the fact that more couples are choosing to have fewer children.
The article stated that under the current Department of Health policy, married couples who go to public health centers across the island can get contraceptives free or at less than market prices. Starting in 1994, however “a four-year family planning program proposed by the DOH will revoke such subsidies” (“ROC to Encourage Births,” Free China Journal, 9/10/93, p. 4)
Baby bonuses in Japan
According to a report in a special newsletter edition of USA Today, “The number of Japanese under 15 years of age has hit a postwar low of 21,800,000.” The Japanese government, which imposes population control in countries all over the world, has now elected to offer ‘baby bonuses’ at home to encourage Japanese couples to have more children. The government decision relates to fears of “eventual labor shortages, slow economic growth, and increased tax burdens” (“Noteworthy,” USA Today, special newsletter edition, August 1992, 1).
U.S.-Japan global partnership
Carl J. Green, director of the Overseas Development Council’s Center for U.S.-Japan Development Cooperation, urged a “new working partnership for sustainable global development” between the U.S. and Japan. Problems that call for joint cooperation include “diseases, pollution, overpopulation, terrorism, war, drug trafficking and poverty” (Carl J. Green, “A US-Japan Partnership on Aid,” The Journal of Commerce, 6 April 1993).
U.S. develops anti-sperm vaccine
Scientist Roy Curtiss of Washington University of St. Louis claims that an experimental vaccine, presently being developed, causes a temporary intestinal infection which triggers the body’s disease-fighting immune system to reject sperm. Speaking at a meeting in St. Louis Missouri, Curtiss said that the vaccine would be inexpensive, would be taken by mouth, would last several months, and could be used by men or women.
The researchers have inserted genetic codes from sperm into the bacteria. The foreign genetic components trick the bacteria into producing proteins normally found only in sperm. The body’s immune system responds by creating a reservoir of another group of proteins, called antibodies, that coat sperm cells and prevent them from fertilizing the woman’s egg.
Curtiss said that the salmonella vaccine, despite its advantages over other birth control methods, will have its drawbacks. He expressed concern for its potential for abuse. “You could put it in the milk or water and immunize everybody,” he said. But because of the temporary nature of the vaccine, he added that, “this is something someone might be able to undo.”
The research is the beginning stage, tests of the vaccine are presently limited to mice. Tests on humans are expected to get underway in about three years (“Oral birth-control vaccine found,” Washington Times, 2 Nov. 1993, A5).
Asian economic growth threatened by AIDS
Professor John Dwyer, director of Sydney’s Prince Henry’s Hospital AIDS Research Centre told delegates to the International Congress of Clinical Chemistry that by 1997 Asia would have a higher incidence of AIDS than Africa. Dr. Dwyer claimed infection rates in Asia were “soaring” and that by the year 2000, “the continent would have 90 percent of all new infection.”
Further, the epidemic constituted an alarming economic threat. According to Dr. Dwyer an Asian Development Bank study showed that Thailand had already lost $U.S. 1.9 billion because of AIDS. The social and political costs of AIDS in Asia were estimated by the study as totaling U.S. $9 billion by the year 2000 (Wilson da Silva, “AIDS threatens Asian economic growth,” Reuters, 13 Nov. 1993).
Monkey business in Guyana
Jacko, the monkey, has been “monkeying around” in Guyana. For two weeks he hoboed through town; in and out, up and down, he scampered through people’s homes playing with cosmetics, covering himself with lipstick, wrecking kitchens and trying on condoms.
The Caribbean News Agency reported that the town’s people who tracked Jacko down in a cemetery said he had “helped himself to lipsticks and condoms, slept in unoccupied beds, and mocked humans with vulgar dances and gestures.”
As a parting gesture during one ‘visit’ Jacko poured four pints of cooking oil on the floor, and stirred a few onions and garlic into the ‘mess’ (“Condom filching Guyana monkey caught in cemetery,” Reuters, Georgetown, Guyana, 13 Nov. 1993).
Dalai Lama advocates population control
Speaking at the final session of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, the Dalai Lama told delegates they “should advocate birth control as a means of sustaining life on earth.”
“If you look at each individual human life as precious, it is better to control that previous life instead of having too much precious life,” the exiled Tibetan leader is reported to have said (Larry Witham, “Push birth control, Dalai Lama urges religions,” The Washington Times, 5 Sept. 1993, 3).
Reports of latex allergies increased during past decade
Generalized latex allergies with immediate hypersensitive reactions such as urticaria, edema, and asthmatic or anaphylactic reactions have been increasingly reported during the past ten years. Anaphylactic shock reactions can include tachycardia and hypotension. Physicians are warned to be aware that “a significant subpopulation of patients is at risk for a life-threatening allergic reaction.”
Persons considered at particular risk include children with spina bifida or urogenital abnormalities, workers with industrial exposure to latex, health care workers and persons who have undergone repeated exposure: “The only common feature among these risk groups appears to be a high degree of exposure to rubber.” When 230 members of the Alberta Society of Medical Laboratory Technologists were tested, 108 (47%) had no problem with [latex] gloves, and 122 (53%) reacted to latex gloves.
Skin contact with latex leads to less severe reactions than mucosal (mucous membranes) or parenteral exposure (inside the body but outside the intestine, e.g., subcutaneous or intravenous injection). A history of “exposure to latex products (balloons, surgical gloves, catheters, condoms, etc.) with allergic reactions” such as swelling or itching, should “heighten surgeon awareness of a potentially severe intraoperative reaction.” Other information which could suggest increased risk includes “hand eczema, previous unexplained anaphylaxis, oral itching after eating bananas, chestnuts or avocados; and multiple surgical procedures in infancy” (Nguyen et al., “Intraoperative cardiovascular collapse secondary to latex allergy,” Journal of Urology, vol. 146, August 1991, 571–574; Committee report, Task Force on allergic reactions to latex, Journal of Allergy, clinical immunology, July 1993, 16; Sussman et al. “The spectrum of 1gE-mediated responses to latex,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 265, no. 21, 5 June, 1991, 2844–2847); Mark L. Salkie, MSc, MB, BChir, FRCPC, “Prevalence of atopy and hypersensitivity to latex in medical laboratory technologists,” Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med., vol. 117, September 1993).
Japanese population control program targets Brazilians
Dr, Milton Nakamura, president, Centro Materno-Infantil/Planejamento Familiar (CMI/PF) was interviewed by the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning concerning the activities of the Japanese “Integrated Project” (IP) in Sao Paulo. The project integrates ‘family planning’ with parasite control.
According to Dr. Nakamura, in 1979, a survey of contraceptive use was carried out in Sao Paulo. The survey showed that a contraceptive program had already been established and that women had been using it effectively. Of the women polled, 23% between the ages of 15–45 years were using the pill and 16% were sterilized. Very few were using diaphragms, condoms or IUDs.
The “Integrated Project” was introduced in 1983 in two pilot areas with the approval of the state government. Twelve branches of the project now exist in the southern part of Sao Paulo City.
Dr. Nakamura described the beginning of the effort, “We started our work in the slum areas. But these are very dangerous and difficult to enter, so we worked out a strategy. The key we found was to use the nursery where working women leave their children and to utilize the nurse working there. By training this person in our family planning program, we were able to enter this area” (JOICFP NEWS, November 1993, 3).
One Canadian couple in 14 are infertile
According to a comprehensive survey of the fertility rate in Canada, as many as 250,000 Canadian couples are infertile. This number represents “about seven percent of all couples where the woman is of child bearing age and neither partner has been sterilized or is using a contraceptive.”
After two years of trying to conceive, the number of couples who eventually succeed “is very small” according to Dr. Patricia Baird, chairwoman of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies which commissioned the survey.
Of the surveyed couples, 41.9 percent were sterile because of tubal ligations or vasectomies; 38.7 percent were using contraceptives; 3.2 percent were sterile due to non-contraceptive surgeries such as hysterectomies; 2.4 percent had conceived during the year; and 8.5 percent were fertile.
Objections to the Commission and its Endings were raised by The National Action Committee on the Status of Women which said the commission’s operation “has been so seriously flawed as to destroy its credibility (Rod Mickleburgh, “One couple in 14 infertile, survey finds,” The Globe and Mail, 13 Nov. 1993).
Chinese refugee women granted U.S. asylum
The process of seeking U. S. political asylum has been chilled for recent Chinese refugees by the hardened attitude of federal government officials. In spite of this, a woman in a New Orleans court was successful in her attempt.
The woman granted asylum asked that her name not be made public for fear of retribution against family members who remain in China. Officials in her village insisted on sterilizing her after her second son was born in 1985. She and her family, who are devout Buddhists and consider children a “gift from God,” hid in a cave for a number of days. After hearing that authorities were threatening to sterilize one of her teenage cousins in her place, the woman presented herself to the authorities for the surgery.
Her husband who later became ill with kidney problems was refused treatment by the village clinic as punishment because he had two children. In November 1987 he died of his illness. Judge David Ayala, when granting her asylum stated: “The tight to bodily integrity and the right to procreate are universally recognized as fundamental human rights” (The Times-Picayune, 7 Nov. 1993, 1, 8).
Hold put on U.N. funds in suit on China one-child policy
Plaintiffs soaking to stop what they call “illegal” federal payments to the U.N. Population Fund have won an agreement from the U.S. Justice Department. The agreement withholds, until l Feb. 1993, $20 million appropriated for the U.N. Population Fund. Justice Department attorneys filed the agreement in reaction to a suit brought on behalf of two Chinese nationals currently being held in York Prison, Pennsylvania. Both men arrived in the United States on the ill-fated Golden Venture from Fujian Province, China.
Tong Wai Zhang and Zhen Hue Guo brought action against Brian Atwood, Administrator of the Agency for International Development and the International Development Cooperation Agency. They were assisted in their efforts by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ.) and the Rutherford Institute.
Plaintiff Tong Wai Zhang asked for asylum based on his contention that he would be subject to China’s policy of involuntary sterilization if he were returned to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Plaintiff Zhen Hue Guo is also at risk of sterilization if he is subject to deportation. Zhen’s wife remains in hiding because they have two children in violation of China’s one-child per family rule, and would be subject to a coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization if caught by the PRC (United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Christopher Smith, Tong Wai Zhang, and Zhen Hue Guo (a/k/a Zhen Xie Guo) vs. Brian Atwood).
Dramatic fall to occur in Europe’s birth rate
The European Population Conference has released a report which predicts the total number of Europeans will fall from 449 million to 342 million by the middle of the 21st century.
Spain and Italy as well as East Germany have the lowest fertility rates in the world. Average births are 1.23 percent in those countries, considerably below the replacement rate of 2.1. Italy’s population is expected to shrink from 57 million to 40 million by 2050, while Spain’s population will decrease by another 10 million.
In Greece the birth rate has dropped from 2.2 percent to 1.4 percent in ten years. Only six of the Council of Europe’s member states, Cyprus, Ireland, Iceland, Poland, Sweden and Turkey maintain a birth rate which will lead to a natural increase in their population. In East Germany the numbers of births dropped by 50 percent in two years. Fertility rates have also fallen in the Baltic States, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Russia and the Ukraine. But even in those locations, external pressures are being mounted to lower the population even more (“Europe-Population-Box,” The Associated Press, 26 March 1993).
Editor’s Note: The information presented in PRI Review does not always reflect the views of the editor and staff. It is, however, information which outlines the parameters of the movement which resists the ideology of population control.
