The problem of uncontrolled population growth emerges as one of the most critical issues of our time since it influences the welfare and happiness of all the world’s citizens. It commands the attention of every nation and society; the problem is no less grave for the technically advanced nations than for the less developed.
If we are to meet this challenge, we must make use of the knowledge that science and technology can bring to bear on the social, cultural, and bio-medical questions involved.
I hope that this report of the Committee on Science and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences will serve as a stimulus to thought and action. It is addressed not only to other scientists but to people generally, since all must bear the ultimate responsibility.
Frederick Seitz, President
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, D.C.
April, 1963
Panel on Population Problems
William D.McElroy, CHAIRMAN,
The Johns Hopkins University
Willard Allen,
The Washington University
Bernard Berelson,
The Population Council
Ansley Coale,
Princeton University
Harold Dorn,
National Institutes of Health
Clement L.Markert,
The Johns Hopkins University
Warren Nelson,
The Population Council
Albert Tyler,
California Institute of Technology
Committee on Science and Public Policy
George B.Kistiakowsky, CHAIRMAN,
Harvard University
Philip H.Abelson,
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Lawrence R.Blinks,
Stanford University
H.W.Bode,
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Frank Brink, Jr.,
The Rockefeller Institute
Melvin Calvin,
University of California
Leo Goldberg,
Harvard University
A.L.Lehninger,
The Johns Hopkins University
Donald B.Lindsley,
University of California
Saunders Mac Lane,
University of Chicago
William W.Rubey,
University of California
H.L.Shapiro,
American Museum of Natural History
Richard E.Shope,
The Rockefeller Institute
T.M.Sonneborn,
Indiana University
Alvin M.Weinberg,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Robert E.Green, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY,
National Academy of Sciences
The Committee acknowledges with gratitude financial support by The Population Council. It also expresses its appreciation of the assistance of Robert Hume, publications editor of the Academy-Research Council.
Foreword
The Committee on Science and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences, aware of the increasing public concern over the effects of uncontrolled population growth, brought together in the fall of 1962 a panel of distinguished scientists to review and summarize the findings of others on population growth and its consequences.
In the report that follows, the panel has analyzed and evaluated the existing situation, identified the immediately critical problems, and suggested a course of action. Because of the nature of the problem, the report deals not only with its bio-medical aspects but with social and economic factors as well. A reading of the report leaves no doubt about the importance and urgency of the subject.
Here as elsewhere science and technology can play a major role in the realization of human expectations of future improvement. On behalf of the National Academy of Sciences and members of the panel, the Committee on Science and Public Policy presents this report to the public with the hope that it will contribute to a broader understanding of the consequences of rapid population growth and, through a recommended course of action, to its eventual control.
George B.Kistiakowsky, Chairman
Committee on Science and Public Policy