Green Think Tank: Save the world – don’t have more than two children

David Derbyshire
UK Daily Mail
Friday, July 25, 2008

British couples should have no more than two children to save the world from global warming, according to a green think tank.

Campaigners from the Optimum Population Trust said limiting family size was the ‘simplest and biggest’ contribution people could make to saving the planet.

While Britain need not follow the example of China and ban large families, having more than two children should be frowned upon in the same way as using a patio heater or driving a gas guzzling car.

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But critics said doctors and governments had no right to tell parents how many children to have – and that population control could lead to more problems than it solved.

The controversial call comes from Prof John Guilleband, emeritus professor of family planning at Imperial College London, and GP Dr Pippa Hayes.

The Optimum Population Trust was at the centre of a row in 2003 after suggesting the ideal population for the UK was 30 million – around half its current level.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Writing in the British Medical Journal, they called on family doctors to ‘break their silence’ on the links between large families and climate change.

‘Unplanned pregnancy, especially in teenagers, is a problem for the planet, as well as the individual concerned. But what about planned pregnancies?” they said.

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