A child is born: World population reaches 6 billion  Posted:
Sunday, October 10, 1999  NEW YORK (AP) - A majority of the
370,000 children born this Tuesday will be poor. Half will be
Asian. And in theory, one will be the planet's 6 billionth
person.  Most experts greet this milestone with anxiety. In just
12 years, they note, humans have increased their number by 1
billion. During the 20th century, the world's population has
tripled. And by 2100, ecologist David Pimentel of Cornell
University warned in a recent paper, "12 billion miserable
humans will suffer a difficult life on Earth."  Advocates for
population control call it "Y6B." They warn that if humanity
can't clamp a lid on the population explosion it will spell
serious trouble - war, famine, economic collapse.  But not
everybody agrees that Oct. 12 is a day for doom and gloom.
Economist Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute, a libertarian
think tank in Washington, D.C., considers it an occasion for
celebration.  "This is an incredible thing that we have