View report page

103
With a total of 51 deaths, cancer of the breast produced a rate
of 0.23 per 1,000 population, a decrease of 0.04 from that for
1969. The rate for England and Wales was 0.22.
Family Planning
In an era distinguished by dubiety and insecurity where many
previously sacrosanct tenets are subject to intense scrutiny and
ridicule, we are bound to ask ourselves—why Family Planning?
It is a fact that world population is rising rapidly. Each year
65 millions, equivalent to the whole population of the British
Isles, is added to its total which, by 2000 A.D. will amount to the
staggering figure of 7,000 millions, thereby equalling the number
of all who have lived and died on this planet throughout recorded
history. This brings into sharp relief the serious and ever-growing
inherent problems of poverty, malnutrition, overcrowding, disease,
illiteracy, etc.
Some nations have a growth rate of 3½% or more which, at
first sight, seems little enough, but a more profound examination
will reveal that such populations will double in 20 years. Moreover,
in a country with a growth rate of this magnitude, half of its
people will be under 15 years of age and their upbringing will be
such a burden on the working section that economic or educational
advancement or indeed progress of any kind becomes impossible.
Previously when countries have been confronted with declining
populations their governments have considered the matter of such
serious moment that national policies have been introduced to
encourage procreation. It is noticeable that the same alacrity is
absent when the converse becomes true.
To be fully effective, family planning needs to be world-wide
for, with improving mortality and no corresponding limitation of
births it is true to say that as a species we are out of control.
Emergent nations are becoming progressively poorer by reason of
uncontrolled population growth, results of which can be seen on
the continents of Africa, Asia and South America, and this despite
prodigious practical and financial assistance from richer countries.
There is evidence to show that beyond a certain level, overcrowding
produces social breakdown and individual behaviour
becomes distorted. Furthermore, dangers arising from maternal
exhaustion resulting from too many pregnancies, neglected toddlers
in families with an ever-present new baby, overworked and tired
parents of large and unspaced families leading to a reduction of
living standards for all and the blind perpetuation of hereditary
defects must lead most thinking people to the conclusion that the
case for family planning is overwhelming.