Eighty years on
Sir: I do not know if you will allow me to come in again on this subject but I do think Mrs S. N. Nanpona (Letters, 19 July) ought to read Mr Bernard Berelson's paper 'Beyond Family Planning' published in number 83 of Studies in Family Planning issued by the Population Council of New York. After some discussion his summary says drily of all methods of involuntary control: 'Scientific readiness, low; political viability, low; administrative feasibility. low; ethical acceptability, low; presumed effec- tiveness, high.' And this was written with India specifically in mind. To think of com- pulsory male Nasectomy in this counts is madness: the resulting uproar would unseat ministers and shake governments.
No, if we want to achieve our end we must go about it in a sensible civilised way. All the same if we don't do it pretty soon we may be driven to more drastic steps later on when the situation has got out of control.
S. G. Lawrence The Conservation Society, 21 Hanyards Lane, (-Wiley, Potters Bar. Herts
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