Population and breast cancer

Several books have drawn attention to the severe economic and social problems linked to having too few children.

Philip Longman, in his book "The Empty Cradle," concentrates on the economic disadvantages of a rapidly falling birth rate. Fears of a "population bomb" aside, modern economics have depended on ever-growing populations. New businesses flock to areas where population is growing, and social security systems depend on growing numbers of taxpayers to finance welfare for each retiring generation. He notes that it may seem counter intuitive to worry about too few children at a time when the world population is still growing by around 75 million a year. Fertility rates, however, have plummeted in recent years and no industrialized nation has enough children being born to sustain its population. U.N.data show that currently 59 countries, accounting for 44% of world population, are not producing enough children to avoid population decline.


Another book, "The Coming Generational Storm," by Laurence Kotikoff and Scott Burns focuses on the fiscal crunch facing the United States due to the costs of an aging population, accusing politicians of deliberately ignoring the long-term financial burdens in favor of short-term political interests. According to the authors, the difference between the US government;s future receipts and expenditures will be in the order of $45 trillion.


In their book, "Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population. " Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer observe that China and India, with 38% of the world's population, have surpluses of young males far beyond what any natural forces could produce. Noting that female infanticide was practiced in many cultures and epochs, Asian culture has had a particularly marked preference for male offspring and modern technology has allowed this preference to be applied more radically than in the past. The book puts the number of women eliminated in seven Asian countries at just over 90 million with India and China respectively accounting for 43% and 45% of this total.


And even if the future isn't as bleak as these authors describe, mainstream economics opinion is in agreement that the dramatic fall in fertility will pose severe problems for the world's economy. Peter Heller, in his book, "Who Will Pay?" points out that society may well rue the day it embraces the logic of the family planning movement.


The Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)  stands firm against population control policies but is also against hazardous contraceptives while advocating for abortion rights and the reduction of maternal mortality & morbidity.  


In her presentation on "Breast cancer and the Environment" years ago, Professor Devra Lee Davis pointed out that the proportion of male births in Canada and the USA have been in steady decline since the 1970's. According to her study, had the sex ration not dropped, at least 38,000 more baby boys would have been born in the USA and 8,600 more in Canada. This observation was part of the human evidences pointing to the proliferation of environmental xenoestrogens that has resulted in the feminization of nature and consequently the rapid rise of breast cancer, especially in areas of toxic waste dumping (California, New York and Florida). Today, 1 in every 8 women in the USA will get breast cancer.

In arriving at our own country's population program, health concerns (particularly breast cancer) must be at equal footing with economic matters. Whatever population size may best serve our country's specific needs, the PBCN is totally against the use of hormonal contraceptives in any form because it places women at high risk of getting breast cancer. Instead, the use of condom is highly recommended. A woman's health and safety (whether with or without child) is foremost as her reproductive system is so complex and intricate that makes her most vulnerable to the environmental factors causing breast cancer.


The Philippine government has unknowingly been implementing an effective population control program by distributing breast cancer causing hormonal contraceptives nationwide and thereby causing the death of thousands of women annually from the breast cancer epidemic. The country today has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer in Asia and the 10th highest worldwide. Today, 1 in every 13 women will get breast cancer in the Philippines!