22 states permit forced sterilization of anyone the courts may find "mentally defective". The law has been applied to very young minors and to women just because they are collecting welfare. The American Civil Liberties Union has taken some forced sterilization cases, hoping to get general principles established.
Population growth is an uninterrupted upward phenomenon. Food supply growth is a long-term trend with irregular variations above and below the trend line. Unpredictably, but possibly frequently, food supply will not keep pace with population growth. The consequences of not believing and not acting on this thesis are disastrous to mankind. Through the use of technology, man can make the food supply keep pace with population. Today's social institutions interfere with this possibility. A basic shift in national values away from rivalry and towards cooperation is necessary. Using advanced technology and overcoming national antagonisms, desalting techniques could be used to reclaim the Sahara desert and increase the world's potential food supply such techniques are described and potential yields estimated.
