Washington Times Columnist Highlights Film Warning Of 'Population Implosion'

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 13 Aug 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The new film "The Demographic Bomb: Demography as Destiny" is "intended to provoke the birth control industry and its overpopulation-minded allies" by raising the possibility of "population implosion," Washington Times columnist Cheryl Wetzstein writes. The premise of the film, which will be screened at this week's World Congress of Families V, "is that global efforts to limit childbearing have worked too well," Wetzstein says. The film shows how "[m]illions of couples are now opting to have one child, or none at all," which, "in turn, will have negative consequences for national economies," according to Wetzstein. The film is a follow-up to 2008's "Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family."

Wetzstein writes that a comment in the film from Joseph Chamie, former head of the United Nations Population Division, "stands out." She quotes Chamie as saying, "'Some demographers say it's much easier to bring down fertility than to raise fertility. It's very, very difficult to raise fertility.'"

Wetzstein continues that she has been "intrigued with the idea that if governments and social leaders can discourage couples from having children, they should be able to encourage births as well." She adds, "But I've also been seeing scholarly articles warning that it's quite difficult to promote childbearing once a child-free mentality has taken root." According to Wetzstein, "We're about to see a test-run on this reviving-fertility issue in China. Shanghai officials, worried about a future shortage of workers, recently said certain couples should feel free to have a second child" (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 8/11).

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