‘DISEASE KEEPS US IN CHECK’

TV Chris population blast

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CHRIS Packham hinted he never had children due to fears for the planet. ★

The TV host, who has a stepdaughter Megan, 24, but no kids of his own, told the current edition of the Radio Times: “What is the future going to be like for them?”

NATURE presenter Chris Packham has suggested deadly diseases are needed to help “regulate” the world’s population.

The Springwatch host made the controversial comments ahead of the airing of his new BBC show 7.7 Billion People And Counting.

He argues that rising global population leads to a “vicious cycle” of increased consumption, climate change and a loss of wildlife.

Chris, 58, said: “I ask, very candidly, what do you think smallpox, measles, mumps and malaria are for? “Every organism has a role to play. “Quite frankly, they are there to regulate our population.”

He added: “I don’t want children to die of malaria if there is a cure. But there’s no reason why we shouldn’t analyse this from a biological perspective.”

Chris’s new show looks at the impact of a growing population and asks “whether the Earth can sustain predictions of 10billion people by 2050”.

He also explained that the ones doing the most damage to society are in the western world. Chris added: “Very often the finger is pointed at sub-Saharan Africa. You can’t point the finger at large families of poor black children as being the problem. We are the problem.”

● 7.7 Billion People And Counting airs at 9pm, January 21, BBC Two.