Delta Babies

The story “Babies Are Born to Die in the Delta” (Column One, Sept. 30) is tragic. The high infant mortality rate among the poor and pregnant needs to be taken care of.

But that is after the fact. The problem is much deeper and widespread. The root problem is “people pollution” of our finite Earth--not only by waste disposal, though that is part of the problem, but by the sheer number of human beings competing for a living for themselves and their children. We need to take steps to reduce the excessive amount of conception worldwide, or infant mortality and the poor will increase even in this opulent country.

China has already begun a program to limit conception as a step toward keeping the population in balance with its resources and thus limiting “babies born to die.”

JOHN CLARK, San Diego