Obama's science czar disavows coercive population-control plans
July 15, 2009
Responding to reports that White House science advisor John Holdren had supported coercive population-control programs, the Obama administration has pointed out that John Holdren disavowed such measures during his confirmation hearings. The focus of the criticism was the 1977 book Ecoscience, co-authored by Holdren with Paul and Anne Ehrlich; the book suggested that under some circumstances government might put sterilizing chemicals in the public water supply. Holdren does not advocate such measures, a spokesman said, and does not think that government should set policies to determine population growth.
Holdren's disavowal of coercive measures leaves unanswered the question of how far he does share the views of his co-author Paul Ehrlich, whose sensationalistic book The Population Bomb predicted catastrophic results from population growth. Ehrlich's predictions of mass starvation and have proved completely wrong, calling into question the basis for his scientific approach.
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