The woman, who already had passed menopause and could not conceive naturally, became one of the oldest on record to give birth. Her husband is 68.
The woman demanded that her identity be withheld. The Israeli doctor, Dr. Shlomo Mashiach, said he might not have carried out the procedure if he had known his patient's real age. "One has to set an age limit," he said. "I think age 50 is enough." He said his patient 'was the oldest woman he knew of to have given birth. But in the Italian city of Modena, Dr. Angelo Careccia confirmed on Monday an Italian magazine report that he delivered a baby for a 61- year old woman in July 1992.
Critics say older mothers might not live long enough to raise the children they bear.
Mashiach said he had treated 250 older women from Israel and abroad in his egg-donation program last year. He said many of the foreigners were Jews who wanted to be sure the donor was Jewish.
The European woman, an observant Jew, told Mashiach she was 48. Her real age was discovered two weeks ago when she checked into Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital outside Tel Aviv for delivery and a clerk checked her passport, said Dr. Moshe Rothschild, the hospital's director.
Mashiach said his patient had come to Israel for treatment tot several attempts at test-tube ation in Europe had failed and doctors began turning her away because of her age.
In Israel, she because of age. became pregnant in the first round of treatment, being implanted with donated eggs fertilized by her husband's sperm.
In the 38th week, her blood pressure rose slightly, and Mashiach said he decided to perform a Caesarean section to avoid risks. The baby was healthy and weighed 6.2 pounds. The woman checked out of the hospital three days later. He is president of Israeli Assoc. of G&O.
In a March 14 Commentary article, "Farm Bounty Feeds
Booming Population," Eugene Makovec contends that there is no
population problem because the "Western world is awash in farm
surpluses." The argument is unacceptable because the
evidence presented does not readily compare to the
scope of the problem as outlined by proponents of
population control.
The majority of humans aren't as fortunate as those in the
West, so its stability and food surpluses do not compare to the
famines and political strife endured elsewhere. The surpluses in
the West do not belie the fact that thousands die daily from
malnutrition.
Makovec's assertion that population-control policies
are interfering with an individual's personal right to
have children is also unacceptable. Using terms like "population police" suggests that the state has no legitimate
authority in controlling the population. While I agree that there
are limits to State power in this area, I disagree with the notion
that it has no authority.
Constitutional scholars in the United States, like Larry D. Bar-
nett, recognize that the state has the authority to act in this
area if there is a compelling interest. Our sensibilities should be
used to increase the extent of U.S. participation in international
population control efforts; they should not be offended by
sophistry.
Mark A. Schuler ---
Ballwin
spring 1995
study: population must drop to
2 billion by 2100
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Earth's land, water and cropland are disappearing
so rapidly that the world population must be slashed to 2 billion or less by
2100 to provide prosperity for all in that year, says a study released
Monday.
The alternative, if current trends continue, is a population of 12 billion
to 15 billion people and an apocalyptic worldwide scene of "absolute
misery, poverty, disease and starvation," said the study's author, David
Pimentel, an ecologist at Cornell University.
In the United States, the population would climb to 500 million and the
standard of living would decline to slightly better than in present-day
China, Pimentel said at the annual meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
Even now, the world population of 6 billion is at least three times what
the Earth's battered natural resources and depleted energy reserves would
be able to comfortably support in 2100, Pimentel said.
Pimentel defines "comfortably support" as providing something close to
the current American standard of living, but with wiser use of energy and
natural resources. Under his scenario, then, if the world's population
dropped to 2 billion, most people's standard of living would improve.
"If people do not intelligently control their own numbers, nature will. That
we can count on," he said.
Although a decline to 1 billion or 2 billion people over the next century
sounds nearly impossible, it could be done by limiting families around the
world to an average of 1.5 children, Ilimentel said.
Currently, U.S. women have an average of 2.1 children, as do the Swedes.
The average birthrate in ---
Rwanda is 8.5;
The other two key limiting factors are cropland and water for ir-
rigation, he said. Each of the three factors, considered separately, leads to
a calculation of a comfortably sustainable population of 1 billion to 2
billion in 2100 Pimentel found.
Sandra Postel of the World-watch Institute noted that until 1978, the
amount of irrigated farmland around the world was growing faster than
population. But in 1978, population growth began to outstrip the growth of
irrigated land.
Saudi Arabia, 6.4;
Bolivia 4.6;
§Mongolia, 4.6;
Argentina, 2.8;
Germany, 1.5;
Hong Kong, 1.4;
Italy 1.3,
according to the United Nation's State of the World
Population report.
Leyden note:
Jordan has a birthrae of 4.35% - one of the highest in the world -- and they are proud of it. Remember the Rule of 72 --- where to take the percent increase of anything and divide it into 72 -- to get the time to double a quantity. This means Jordan will double their population in about 17 years ( 17 / 4.35 ).
Depletion of coal, oil and natural gas, along with uranium reserves, are
one important limit on the number of people that can survive comfortably
on Earth, he said.
Coles County family grows
with addition from China
A perfectly healthy baby, Melanie was abandoned on Dec. 2,1994, not
even two months after she was born around Oct. 15. She was discovered
and taken to an orphanage in Wuhan, the capitol of Hubei and a city of 8.5
million, where she was named Yan Xue.
"Yan' is the surname and Xue'is 'snow, "Sparks explained.
"This means the people who took her to the orphanage probably found her
in the snow," Mrs. Sparks added. "It's sad, but this happens there all the
time, especially with little girls."
Because couples in China are permitted to have only one child, the
country's or orphanages are packed. Each of ChinaÕs 900 orphanages houses
200 to 300 children, mostly girls. The surplus of female babies exists due
to the cultural value China places on boys.
Most of the boys who are abandoned are considered handicapped by Chinese
citizens, although many have correctable problems such as a cleft pallet
or club foot, Sparks said.
With their two other children, Mindy and Megan, who also chose
'Melanie's American name, reaching adolescence, the Sparkses decided last
summer they were ready for another child.
Although they immediately considered adoption, the Sparkses were
leery of in-state adoption in because of the Baby Richard case. The couple
didn't want to worry about the potential of biological parents deciding
they wanted their child back.
While weighing the options, the Sparkses saw an article on Ron and
Karen Rushing, 1991 Illinois lottery winners who adopted a 6-month girl
from China.
"At first, we read it and threw it away," said Mrs. Sparks with a laugh.
"We had to go dig it out of the library."
After a visit with the Rushings, Tony and Debbie Sparks decided that
international adoption was the way to go, and theybegan the paperwork-
filled process that would eventually bring them Melanie.
"One thing led to another, and here she is," Sparks said with a touch of
sarcasm. "No, it wasn't nearly that easy."
The couple had to follow normal domestic adoption procedures, then
have immigration and naturalization approval from both the United
States and China. A set of fingerprints, doctors' letters giving the entire
family a clean bill of health and home study references were also
required.
"We made about five trips to Chicago getting notary public seals, county
clerk signatures and approval from the Chinese Consulate," Sparks said.
"We were finally cleared just prior to December."
Then the waiting began.
In late February, the Sparkses received a black-and-white picture of
Melanie and a letter saying in-formation would follow on when the couple
could travel to China.
The Sparkses finally set off for China in the first week of April, along
with several other American couples and single mothers.
Provided with a guide, the soon-to-be adoptive parents did some
sightseeing before visiting the orphanage, which Sparks said was
surprisingly clean and filled with healthy babies.
"We looked at ( adoption in ) Eastern bloc countries, but so many are
sick," he said. "We also heard some horror stories about poor living
conditions and skin diseases, but all the babies in our group were
healthy."
Although the babies were well cared for and the orphanage was clean,
Mrs. Sparks said the building was without heat. To keep the babies from
becoming cold, the infants are dressed n about five layers of clothes --
even on the 78-degree spring day the Sparkses visited the orphanage.
As Mindy unfolded the seemingly endless mound of clothes Melanie was
bundled in at the orphanage, Mrs. Sparks explained how babies in China
wear split pants instead of diapers.
"They looked at us like we were nuts when we started unwrapping
(Melanie)," Sparks said. 1 mean, it's about 80 degrees and these babies are
dressed in so many layers they can hardly move."
"Melanie spent the first 24 hours finding her arms and legs," Mrs. Sparks
added.
As Melanie squirms restlessly in her father's lap, Sparks admits she is
one of the lucky few Chinese children to find a home so quickly. In a
country that abandons three babies per minute, China's adoption process is
woefully slow and led to just more than 800 adoptions in 1994.
But that number, up from about 400 adoptions in 1993, is expected to
more than double as China works on simplifying and speeding up its
paperwork processing.
"We receive constant updates (from China) on the adoption situation, and
they are genuinely concerned about how families are doing with their
adopted children," Sparks said. "They want us to send photos of Melanie
with the family, d our guide wants us to keep in touch."
In fact, Sparks added, many couples from their travel group were
planning to go back to China to adopt another child; the country allows
only one adoption at a time.
Although the Sparkses say they have plenty of children to keep them
busy now, Mrs. Sparks said they would like to take the girls to China in the
future.
I'd like Melanie to eventually see where she came from," she said. "And I
hope other people considering adoption think about China - there's no
shortage of babies."
MATTOON - Waving her arms and drooling happily, Melanie Sparks is
lavished with attention and love from her new adoptive family. But
parents Tony and Debbie Sparks say the infant was not so highly regarded
in her native home of China.