Too Many People?

To the Editors:

TIME is to be commended for its coverage of "The Population Curse" [WORLD, Aug. 6]. Our solutions to all other world problems will fail if too many people are allowed to overcrowd the globe.

Brent White Newhall, Calif.

The Reagan Administration's policy of denying funds for family planning to countries that sanction abortion is hypocritical and pathetically shortsighted. Abortions will be decreased only by providing these nations with better methods for preventing conception.

Nancy J. Treat Morgantown, W. Va.

Finally someone has said it: the threat to human existence comes not from thermonuclear weapons but from the proliferation of our own species.

Robert A. France Oxnard, Calif.

Your cover phrase "The Population Curse" is insensitive and callous. People should never be viewed as a curse.

(The Rev.) F. Douglas Morgan Sr. Dillon, S.C.

Your report misses a central point. No matter how deprived the urban poor are, they are better off than the rural poor. It is essential to increase rural productivity through land reform and technology. Otherwise, attempts to improve our population centers will further widen the urban-rural gap and lead to even higher migration into cities, thus nullifying whatever improvements are made in those metropolitan areas.

Raaj Kumar Sah New Haven, Conn.

Research on birth rates shows that along with strengthening planned-parenthood programs, each country has to carry out additional strategies to slow the growth of population and urbanization. If infant and child mortality were reduced and if social security for the elderly were introduced, couples would not feel the need to have many sons with the hope that one or two would survive to care for the parents in their old age. Similarly, literacy, especially for women, would help delay the age of marriage and would also bring greater understanding and acceptance of family-planning methods.

Moni Nag, Senior Associate The Population Council New York City

It is amazing how our Government can relate the population explosion to the philosophy of free-market principles, that is, that people constitute a growing market. By impeding efforts to limit the number of births, the Administration is condemning more and more individuals to death through starvation.

Thomas Pirko Niles, Ohio

By supporting a church that teaches that contraception is a sin, we Catholics are contributing to a system that brings premature death and suffering to millions. Could it be that contemporary American Catholics are as blind and self-serving as were the sincere Christian slave owners of the 18th and 19th centuries?

Paschal Baute Lexington, Ky.

Your story on overpopulation propagates a myth that serves to justify abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. The facts simply do not support your dire assertions. If all the people of the world were brought together in one place, they could stand, without touching, in less than 400 sq. mi.

A further fallacy is the assumption that the greater the population, the lower the standard of living. This is not true. Japan has a population density of 829 people per sq. mi., yet has a higher per capita gross national product ($10,080) than India, which has 577 people per sq. mi. ($260).

(The Rev.) Jeffry A. Carroll Toledo

Central American nations rely on the U.S. to absorb much of their overflow population through legal and illegal immigration. If our Government continues to oblige these countries, our standard of living will be reduced and a new poverty-stricken underclass will come into being. Central America will not begin serious birth control programs until it knows that expansion to the north will be limited.

Irvin G. Henry Pasadena, Calif.

So overpopulation is to blame for Mexico City's smog, traffic jams, slums and even rats. The U.S., with 1.8 children per woman of child-bearing age, over-the-counter contraceptives and abortion on demand, has those same problems. We ought to put our own house in order before entering the bedrooms of the Third World.

Virginia S. Daum West Milton, Ohio

Mexico City's problem is not primarily its high birth rate but a high rate of immigration from rural areas. The Communist Chinese have "solved" this problem by making it illegal for peasants to move to the cities. Shanghai may have no "squatters living in shacks," but there are hundreds of millions of peasants in hill and mountain areas where conditions are far worse than those encountered in a Mexico City barrio.

Steven Mosher Fresno, Calif.

Mexico City's desperate problems can be solved only by creating a new and distant federal capital. There are precedents for this. Constantino moved the seat of his empire from Rome to Byzantium (A.D.

330); the fledgling U.S. wanted a national capital with no ties to either North or South and created Washington (1790); the Australians moved their capital to the new city of Canberra (1927); and Brazil--with many of the problems of Mexico--boldly developed Brasilia (1960).

G.E. Kidder Smith New York City

I lived in Mexico City most of my life and saw its transformation from a small, placid, clean city into the monster it has become. The worst problem continues to be corruption at all levels of government. If 30 public officials were to return what they "borrowed," Mexico's foreign debt could be paid in less than one week.

Carlos Cuttler San Diego

Olympic Opener

In all my 73 years I have never seen anything to compare with the opening ceremony of these Games [OLYMPICS, Aug. 6]. The occasion was unsurpassed in spirit, execution and excellence.

Judd H. Black Rochester

As I watched the spectacle, I rejoiced that I am not the one responsible for organizing the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Anything T could do would pale in comparison with Los Angeles' magnificent show.

Adzhar Ibrahim Penang, Malaysia

I congratulate David Wolper, Hollywood and the U.S. for the splendor and professionalism of the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, it was a celebration of American power, not world peace.

Marie-Lynne Beyreuth Montreal

Oft-Told Tale

In your article on Los Angeles [SPECIAL REPORT, July 30] Gregory Jaynes relates the kinky sex story about a photographer who picks up a woman in a bar in Marina del Rey, ties her up in her apartment, leaves to get his camera, and then cannot find his way back to her apartment. I read a variation of this same story in Philip Roth's novel The Professor of Desire.

Beverly Freedenthal Houston

Writer Jaynes, who confesses to never having read The Professor of Desire, was told the story by a photographer who swears it happened to him.

ABC's Games

Hooray for ABC's technological bravura [VIDEO, Aug. 6]! But the commentators? One was openly enthusiastic when a Rumanian woman gymnast fumbled on the parallel bars. The network should not trample the Olympic spirit with such demonstrations of chauvinism and bad sportsmanship.

Omar Yacoub White Plains, N. Y.

Thank heaven for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which gave mature and sensitive coverage to the Olympics opening ceremonies. After 30 minutes of ABC's constant commercials and chatter, we switched channels and were able to enjoy that once-in-a-lifetime spectacular in peace.

Granvyl G. Hulse Jr. Colebrook, N.H.

Ferraro's Roots

I can understand the enthusiasm that Geraldine Ferraro's nomination generates among Italian Americans [NATION, July 23]. However, I find the excitement a little exaggerated. All Americans except Indians have their roots in other countries. Ferraro was born in Newburgh, N.Y., was raised and educated in the U.S. and is therefore 100% American. I cannot see any cultural ties with her relatives still in Italy.

Renzo Nissim Rome

Joggers' Longevity

While reading the comments on Jim Fixx's death, I was amused by the quote from Dr. George Sheehan: "You are more likely to die if you don't jog than if you do" [MEDICINE, Aug. 6]. Apparently dreams of immortality die hard.

Lisa Moran Hamden, Conn.