At 1:09:43 in the July 26 2018 Episode of Those Conspiracy Guys, David Icke says:
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/fertility_race/part1/timeline.shtml
But what of his specific claim that "in the '60s , you never heard about fertility clinics"? Icke grew up in Leicester, in the UK midlands. It's not really clear WHY Icke would expect, as a child, to be aware of the number of fertility clinics. But even now there are only two in Leicester (a good sized city of 443,000 people). But much of the fertility treatments will be done in general practice and hospitals, on the NHS.
There are other issues, like the steep generational decline in sperm count. But it's not clear what role that plays in fertility.
The use of the word fertility is a bit confusing. On an individual level it's got the more common meaning - how likely it is that someone will get pregnant when they are actively trying. But for a population "fertility" means how many live births per person per year — regardless of if they are trying or not, or what age they are. To see if there's a decline in fertility you need to look at the birth rate of a population of a certain age who are actively trying to get pregnant.
Icke is using his lack of memory of fertility clinics in the 1960s as evidence for some kind of plot to reduce the birth rate. But his memory seems largely irrelevant to that claim.
Let's have a look at the recent history of fertility from 1900 to modern times:External Quote:You know when I was a kid, born in the '50s, grew up in the '60s, you never heard about fertility clinics. No one, you never heard about them. Now, they're everywhere! Because more and more people are finding it difficult to have children. What is going on?
...
Because I was born 66 years ago, I have a point of perception that saw the world before it was anything like it is now. So what happens is you can see the scale of the change. If you are born into this now this is your normal. This is why older people who have this radar, who have seen what was, and now what is, and the scale of change, they are so important.
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/fertility_race/part1/timeline.shtml
So there seem to be two reasons for the growth in fertility clinics after the 1960s - firstly the change in demographics with baby boomers delaying starting a family, and secondly the relative newness of the technology. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a large part of fertility treatment now, but did not even exist in the 1960s.External Quote:
1900 - Americans increasingly focus on close-knit, smaller families. Family size drops from an average of seven children in 1800 to four in 1900.
1910 - President Theodore Roosevelt and other eugenicists warn against the "race suicide" that white, middle class Americans drift towards because of their "willful sterility." Roosevelt considers voluntary childlessness an unpatriotic act.
1921 - Researcher I. C. Rubin develops a test for blocked fallopian tubes, a major cause of female infertility.
1923 - The female reproductive hormone estrogen is discovered.
1929 - The female reproductive hormone progesterone is discovered.
1930-40 - Voluntary childlessness hits its peak: 28 percent of married women of color; 20 percent of whites.
1934 - Lillian Lauricella gives birth to twin daughters from donor insemination.
1934 - Comprehensive guidelines published for determining male infertility by analyzing sperm count and quality.
1935 - The male sex hormone testosterone is discovered.
1943 - Synthetic hormone supplements available.
1944 - Harvard physician John Rock reports the first US fertilization of human eggs in a laboratory dish (in vitro).
1950s - Public demand for fertility treatment far outpaces scientific abilities.
1960 - The ovarian stimulation drugs Clomid and Pergonal tested as infertility treatments.
1965 - Baby boom generation begins to come of age, delays childbearing.
1970 - Nation's first commercial sperm bank opens in Minnesota.
1972 - National Association of Non Parents formed to promote "child-free" living.
1973 - The volunteer group Resolve formed to help infertile people.
1978 - Louise Brown, first "test tube baby" is born by in vitro fertilization in England.
1981 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr is born, the first in vitro baby in the US.
1987 - Donor ova available in the US.
1992 - Researchers in Belgium report pregnancies using a technique to inject a single sperm cell into an egg. The procedure, known as ICSI, revolutionizes the treatment of male infertility.
1997 - Atlanta infertility clinic announces first successful pregnancy in US using an egg that had been frozen.
But what of his specific claim that "in the '60s , you never heard about fertility clinics"? Icke grew up in Leicester, in the UK midlands. It's not really clear WHY Icke would expect, as a child, to be aware of the number of fertility clinics. But even now there are only two in Leicester (a good sized city of 443,000 people). But much of the fertility treatments will be done in general practice and hospitals, on the NHS.
There are other issues, like the steep generational decline in sperm count. But it's not clear what role that plays in fertility.
The use of the word fertility is a bit confusing. On an individual level it's got the more common meaning - how likely it is that someone will get pregnant when they are actively trying. But for a population "fertility" means how many live births per person per year — regardless of if they are trying or not, or what age they are. To see if there's a decline in fertility you need to look at the birth rate of a population of a certain age who are actively trying to get pregnant.
Icke is using his lack of memory of fertility clinics in the 1960s as evidence for some kind of plot to reduce the birth rate. But his memory seems largely irrelevant to that claim.
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