Scots families ‘should stop at two children’
Ruaridh Findlay Thompson yawns after being born as the global population reaches the 7 billion mark
ONE of Scotland’s most eminent scientists has argued that couples in the UK should have no more than two children to help tackle the world’s soaring population.
Professor Sir Ian Wilmut puts forward his controversial views in today’s Scotsman as the number of people on the planet officially hits seven billion.
The professor of reproductive biology, most famous for his role in cloning Dolly the Sheep, argues that “population control is essential and beneficial even in countries like our own” because of the strain such a large number of people place on the planet’s resources.
• Ian Wilmut: Filling up a world of limited capacity
He adds: “What is needed now is government promotion of the fact that having more than two children is imposing unacceptable demands upon the environment.”
His views sparked a heated debate over whether people in the UK have a social responsibility to limit the number of children they have.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland described Prof Wilmut’s views as “nonsensical irrelevance”.
However, others argued the world’s population has grown so large that individuals need to help by having a small number of children to use fewer resources.
Yesterday, the United Nations named a newborn girl from the Philippines, Danica May Camacho, as the seven billionth person on the planet.
With hundreds of thousands of babies born each day it was impossible to accurately pinpoint the arrival of the seven billionth person, but the UN chose yesterday to mark the day.
Hitting the seven billion mark means there has been a seven-fold increase in the world’s population over the past 200 years.
And the UN estimates the global population will reach eight billion by 2025 and ten billion by 2083.
It has taken just 12 years for the population to swell by the last billion people.
However, in Scotland the average woman currently has fewer than two children, compared to Niger, West Africa, which has the highest fertility rate, where women have an average of seven.
Writing an article called Population and consumption the twin determinants of our fate in The Scotsman today, Prof Wilmut said that even in the UK there are “obvious effects of human activity upon the rural environment”.
And he said although it would be “perverse” to remove the financial support that ensures children in the UK have a good start, there should be “social encouragement for those who choose not to have children or have only one child”.
He added, however, that “anything approaching the enforced single child policy of China would be inappropriate and unacceptable”.
The scientist, who has three children, one of whom is adopted, suggested that an “alternative opportunity” for people who want children was to adopt.
“This also gives a means of having a child of the gender that you most wish for,” he added.
Prof Wilmut is the latest in a long line of well-known figures to promote the idea of having fewer children.
Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, environmentalist Jonathan Porrit, primatologist Jane Goodall, television presenter Chris Packham and former American vice-president Al Gore have all in the past sparked controversy by making similar comments.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland responded by saying: “Professor Wilmut’s views are nonsensical irrelevance. The idea that the human population is too high has been around for over a century. It started with Thomas Malthus.
“The Malthusian views have never gone away. There were those who said if the population reached one billion the world would collapse. This type of dictatorial population control argument has always been proved wrong in the past.”
He argued that considering the land available, Scotland was a “hugely underpopulated country”. And he said the problem was not one of “resources”, but one of “distribution”.
“There are many agriculturalists who would point out that arable land is more than sufficient to provide food for a population of 20 billion,” he said.
“What we have is a problem with distribution. In America the average dog is fed more calories than the average person in subsaharan Africa. That’s a problem we need to address.”
He said any attempt to interfere in the number of children people have could lead to the “disastrous outcome” in China that resulted in chronic levels of infanticide by parents wanting sons when it adopted a single child policy.
Anastasia Dewaal, deputy director of independent think tank Civitas, agreed there should not be any attempt to control the number of children had by families.
“There has been for a long time now rather dogmatic advice saying to people in this country that they should be very questioning of whether they have more than one child because this puts a strain on the planet,” she said.
“But if you look at where there are demographic issues it’s not in this part of Europe and we actually have issues about replacement of population rather than having too many people.”
She said people in the UK have ended up “confused” due to mixed messages.
“We are told we won’t have enough people to pay for pensions in the future, but are also given dogmatic advice about having fewer children.
“I think there’s an awful lot to scare people off having children. If people are being put off having more than one child due to mixed messages that’s deeply troubling. Families need clear and evidence-based information rather than judgments that are based on evidence that isn’t even accurate.”
She described the view that people in the UK should have fewer children as “counter-intuitive” because the birth rate is falling.
She added: “We have issues with an ageing population. It’s misleading to suggest having children is problematic.
“In lots of countries having children is seen as the point of life and a great pleasure. Here it’s often portrayed as negative. That’s very troubling.”
And Stan Blackley, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, believed it was not about making sure there were fewer people on the planet, but about making sure those people that are here are “consuming less, wasting less and living a more sustainable lifestyle”.
“The world can sustain up to nine million people, but not with the current Western diet, wasteful lifestyle, or levels of energy consumption,” he said.
And he added: “While population growth is one of the drivers of climate change and resource use, it is far from the major one.
“Fossil fuel use remains the primary cause of environmental damage and climate change.”
However, Professor Colin Gallagher, emeritus professor of engineering who is a trustee for the campaign group Population Matters, supported Prof Wilmut’s views.
He believes an extra one million people are likely to arrive in Scotland by 2020, mainly from the rest of the UK. “Politicians may think that’s a contribution to the economy, but the downside is that another one million people will need another one million people’s worth of services such as hospitals and roads and schools,” he said.
A report by The National Records of Scotland last week predicted Scotland’s population, currently about 5.2 million, would rise to 5.76 million by 2035, driven by high levels of migration and more births than deaths.
The figure equates to a ten per cent increase – more than half a million people – over a quarter of a century.
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Comments
There are 109 comments to this article
Page 1 of 8
kernow
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 04:18 AMLike so many others of like mind and opinion, Ian Wilmut is telling us we should have only two children but he has three children! What a hypocrit!!! Why is it that so many people expect others to do what they are not prepared to do themselves. Rather like the Duke of Edinburgh who professes the same opinion but has four children. Perhaps these people think themselves to be a higher form of life so deserve to produce more children. Many young people today choose to have no children which more than makes up for those who might have three or four. Most people do have two children – but it is their choice, not Wilmut's decision.
BLOCKEM
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 12:00 AM99 Tartancult - “Blockhead”, oh that was really funny, really original, never heard that one before (lol), was that another sample of your very own attempt at “humour”? You haven’t posted any credible opinion on the above story. You’re only input has been to insult other posters:- “If only this was in place at least 9 months before you were conceived Charles” • “You and Charles need to get together Beth - a marriage made in Hell!” • “ Hopefully you are both past the stage where procreation will result in progeny thus saving the planet from your rancid spawn” • “BigBoil, Bubonics and Pa balloon should all live together, spewing their hatred, bigotry and racism” • “though I don't know which country would allow them to immigrate based on their hatred, racism and bigotry”. No need to follow your every post (nothing of interest) just key in “bigotry, racism and hatred” and up comes “Tartancult”.
RobertBurnsOB
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 02:04 PMAye, stop having babies in Scotland sae tha' Jihad can be brought through reproduction rather than suicide bombings.
Mop
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 11:23 AMI thought Scotlands birth population had fell? All I would like to add is for years there have been people exploiting both the housing and benefits system by having more children. Its the children I feel sorry for as no one asks to be brought into this world. However,things have got to such a stage that I feel it only sensible that child benefit be limited to two children,if you wish more children then you support them like I and many others have had to do. I certainly dont want to go down the road of China where thousands of female children are aborted each day as everyone wants males,in the future there is going to be a huge shortage of females in that country as they dont seem to realise the best balance is nature.
BLOCKEM
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 09:46 AMComment removed by moderator
BLOCKEM
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 12:59 AMComment removed by moderator
BLOCKEM
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 12:47 AMComment removed by moderator
duelaynomore
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 12:01 AMI find it concerning that so many of the comments in these pages resort to name calling and allegations,, that because "you are a @@@@$$$****", that your point of view should not be heard or even tolerated. Sadly most of the name calling comes from persons who appear to have views to the left of politics. What happened to free speach? Is that free speach now to be forbidden in our country? My other concern is that our country and its values are being stifled by people such as KON, who spends his time criticising others. If we Scots stop breading, we will be over-run in a couple of centuries, by peoples that started their ancestry in other continents. Why should I not share my concerns on this issue? Do I have to submit now to someone else's "Lebensroom" (spelling unclear) expansion, just because he has run out of resources on his own patch through either mis management or overpopulation? Did our grandfathers fight nasty wars to their deaths, for this generation to give our homeland away? I'm not SNP for several reasons, but I am a patriot at heart.
Moniker Lewinsky
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11:28 PM99 You always get stuff like that on threads like this. That's why I don't read them any more, it is not good for my blood pressure. Just noticed there were 99 posts & couldn't resist it.
Moniker Lewinsky
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11:27 PM100
Tartancult
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 10:19 PM94, Blockhead - that was humour (the Rangers thing)- what we have seen on this thread is bigotry, racism and hatred. Nice to see you follow my every post though, its nice to have a personal stalker.
Faceless_bureaucrat
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 09:48 PM"A report by The National Records of Scotland last week predicted Scotland’s population, currently about 5.2 million, would rise to 5.76 million by 2035, driven by high levels of migration and more births than deaths." - Scary stuff , it's rapidly turning into Africa. I'm glad I'll be long dead.
Maximumrider
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 09:46 PMit's not the west that is responsible for the population growth. it is developing countries and third world countries that are responsible for the baby boom. poor women do not have access to birth control, so do not have family planning. many latino's are hispanic, and the catholic church frowns on contraception, so they do not use them. the west needs to be encouraging it's young to have more, not less. our population is aging, and we are not procreating enough children . that said, the only people who should consider larger families are married people who ant them and can afford to take care of them. the last thing we need are more girls giving birth to babies that they cannot afford and they rely on taxpayers to help with the expense
Faceless_bureaucrat
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 09:41 PMMore leftist drivel. The fertility rate of Scottish people is actually 1.2 which means we are not replacing ourselves.The birthrate amongst foreigners living here is typically 3 times ours which means we are being rapidly outbred in our own country, thanks to the politicians who used that as excuse to import the immigrant hordes - many of whom do not have the faculties to hold down a job and contribute. The population of Africa has doubled since the Live Aid event of the 80's , but the lefties never talk about POPULATION CONTROL IN AFRICA which is the route of the problem. They are happy to chip away at the indigenous peoples of this country despite the fact few couples now have more than one child.
Scottish Neo Prohibitionist SNP activist
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 09:29 PMRemember the Harold Wilson ‘white heat of technology speech’, it was on TV, black n white around 1963, l seen it in 1969. He told all the ladies to take the pill because in future we’ll not require as many workers. Go forward 30 years and apparently we needed mass immigration because we didn’t have enough workers. ‘I believe this is still SNP policy even with mass unemployment’. Now we get Scots families ‘should stop at two children’ Is it me or is something not right.
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