More than bio-medical research will be required, for control of population growth by means of voluntary regulation within each family poses major social and economic problems that can be solved only in part by biological means. Of special importance is the need for extensive and immediate research in the field to learn how we can make family planning more effective in societies that recognize the need for it. The challenge to students of social problems can hardly be overstated.

In view of its relationship to the welfare of all men, individually and collectively, the problem of population growth can no longer be ignored. Increased understanding of present procedures and development of new methods for regulating fertility will maximize the freedom of all parents to determine the size of their families even in those countries where population growth is not an urgent social problem but where fertility regulation can have great personal significance. It should be emphasized that the kinds of basic bio-medical investigations that will contribute to solutions of problems of human fertility will also provide information that can be applied to the development of methods for overcoming sterility, for influencing embryonic development in order to repair genetically determined biochemical deficiencies, for avoiding harmful influences of drugs taken during pregnancy, and, in general, for assuring optimum conditions for embryonic and fetal development.

In pursuit of these objectives, many different kinds of institutions in the United States, both public and private, have important contributions to make. Other than the search for lasting peace, no problem is more urgent.