The Food and Drug Administration approved a controversial new form of emergency contraception Friday that can prevent a pregnancy as many as five days after sex.

The decision to allow the sale of the pill, which will be marketed under the brand name “ella,” was welcomed by family-planning proponents as a crucial new option to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But critics condemned the decision, arguing that it was misleading to approve ella as a contraceptive because the drug could also be used to induce an abortion.

Ella can cut the chances of becoming pregnant by about two-thirds for at least 120 hours after a contraceptive failure or unprotected sex, studies have shown. The only other emergency contraceptive on the market, the so-called morning-after pill sold as Plan B, is significantly less effective, becomes less effectual with each passing day and will not work after 72 hours.

For full article, visit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn

Thanks to Tim Murray for this article.
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The Missing Ingredient in the Tamil Refugee Debate
490 good reasons are advanced to challenge the acceptance of Tamil boat-people but not one of them is ecological

Have you noticed? As could be predicated, the vast subterranean disgust and frustration with Canada’s dysfunctional refugee determination system has hatched out. Even the mainstream media failed in its mission to suppress popular anger and quarantine dissent to the margins. My goodness, even CBC Pravda had to acknowledge that not all is well in the Republic of PC Trendydom. As they discovered before with previous waves of “boat people”, it is difficult to keep a lid on a volcano of discontent. But what is disappointing is that none of the objections to the entry of Tamil refugees has been framed from an environmental perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Ed Barry for this link to a BBC film on population produced by David Attenborough. It gives a good explanation of population issues to the general public. You can find it at Eric Rimmer’s website at www.ericrimmer.com. It’s an unofficial copy, so please don’t broadcast it.

If you missed Prince Charles’ July 8, 2009 talk on population and the need to work in harmony with nature, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4l0fES43nc. Many thanks to Eric Rimmer for this link.

Thanks to SD Shantinath for this BBC article.
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The UK’s Royal Society is launching a major study into human population growth and how it may affect social and economic development in coming decades.

The world’s population has risen from two billion in 1930 to 6.8 billion now, with nine billion projected by 2050.
The society acknowledges it is delving into a hugely controversial area, but says a comprehensive and scientific review of the evidence is needed.

It is led by Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston of Human Genome Project fame.

For full article, visit:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10578484.stm

Clearly, the population debate in the UK is heating up. Thanks to Mike Nickerson for this article from The Independent.
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A growing number of scientists are going where politicians fear to tread by calling for a wider public debate on the sensitive issue of the global human population, which is set to rise from the present 6.8 billion to perhaps 9 billion by 2050.

Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society, brought the subject up in his excellent Reith Lectures; Sir David Attenborough has become a champion of those who believe population has been relegated as an environmental issue; and more recently Professor Aubrey Manning, presenter of the BBC’s Earth Story, has stated that the sheer number of humans on the planet is the greatest menace the world faces.

For full article, visit:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news

Thanks to Sally Mattison for this article.
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Environmentalists in Britain and elsewhere have sometimes been reluctant to talk about population in recent years. But with the U.K. Office of National Statistics projecting a 9 million rise in the country’s population to 70 million by 2030, it’s increasingly difficult to get away from the old Malthusian dilemma of population, resources, and economic growth.

Engaging in this debate is fraught with risks for the well-meaning green. As Sara Parkin puts it [PDF], “The maths of sustainability is simple — it requires fewer people, consuming less — yet we find it difficult to talk about either.”

For full article, visit:
http://www.grist.org/article

Thanks to Bob Walker for this article from The Telegraph.
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He said more needs to be done because of the “monumental” problems that face the environment as population numbers “rocket” and traditional societies become more consumerist. There needed to be more “honesty” about the fact the “cultural” pressures keep the global birth rate high.

The Prince also said the traditional religious views of the sanctity of life, which are often used to oppose the use of condoms and other contraceptives, must be balanced with the imperative to live within the limits of nature.

His comments, made in an important speech on Islam and the environment, will be seen as controversial within both the green lobby and some religious circles.

For full article, visit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/7815069/Prince-of-Wales

Thanks to Clifford Garrard of the Population Institute of Canada for this information on the Royal Society’s project to examine the population issue. The text below is from the Royal’s Society’s website. You will see a call for input from experts, with a deadline for submissions of October 1.
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Population is a global issue which is moving back up the agenda. In the run-up to the December 2009 Copenhagen conference on climate change, a number of academics and NGOs called for a fresh look at the factors affecting and affected by changing population. Yet debates remain polarised: some people still see population as a distraction from the more urgent imperative of reducing resource consumption in the wealthiest countries. Others argue it is an issue that will solve itself, as global population size is projected to peak and then fall from the middle of the 21st century.

For full article, visit:
http://royalsociety.org/People-and-the-Planet/
Read the rest of this entry »

From The National
http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/12113

The United Nations in Papua New Guinea in cooperation with the Population Media Centre (PMC) has entered a two-year partnership programme with Colgate-Palmolive PNG on promoting the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDG) through the MDG radio drama campaign which will be launched next year.

Colgate came in as the key corporate sponsor of with the donation of K100,000 for two social change radio serial dramas to be developed for public broadcast in PNG in Tok Pisin and English by US-based PMC.
Read the rest of this entry »