NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - Pro-life groups celebrated the symbolic birth of Baby 6 Billion on Tuesday, the date selected by the United Nations to represent the moment when the world's population reached 6 billion.

    The Population Research Institute said in a statement that, rather marking the event, known as D6B, as a warning of impending catastrophe, humanity should rejoice at the news. "We ... celebrate the birth of Baby Six Billion. This little girl (or boy) has been born into a world that is more prosperous than our forbearers a few centuries ago could have imagined," said PRI's president Steve Mosher. "He (or she) will lead a longer and healthier life than even royalty once enjoyed."

    Mosher said in a press conference that the time had come for an end to international population control measures. By the year 2100, he said, world population will have stabilized around 7-8 billion people, but per capita income will have increased six-fold to around $30,000.

    Mary Ann Kreitzer, head of the women's group Les Femmes des Verite, also spoke at the conference, quoting Mother Teresa in saying that "while each child has a mouth, he or she also has two hands .... These children are the doctors, inventors, and producers of the future."

    UN and other international leaders have warned of the effect of increasing population. World population growth will result in "increasing pressure on the planet due to wasteful and unbalanced consumption patterns and growing numbers of people, raising demand for food and water [while] global warming [will] result in possible changes such as sea level rise [and] increased storms and floods [that] could affect billions of people," said Dr. Nafis Sadik, head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), recently.

    Mosher disputed those claims, saying that "they never show you the population charts past 2040, when population growth begins a long decline .... Malthus was wrong in the 19th century, Ehrlich was wrong in the 1970s about The Population Bomb, and these people are wrong about the harmful effects of people."

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