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FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, July 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Population Research Institute (PRI) has released the first in a series of educational videos intended to disprove what it calls the “myth” of overpopulation. 

The brief feature “Overpopulation: the Making of a Myth” refutes common misconceptions about world population, poverty, resource consumption, and the United Nations.

PRI is best known for being the group responsible for uncovering the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) cooperation with the Chinese government's coercive population control techniques. Its on-the-ground investigations in China led to the defunding of UNFPA by the Bush administration.

“We wanted it to be accessible,” says developer and primary animator Joseph Powell about the video.  “The myth of overpopulation is so prevalent, and yet nobody even has a clear idea about what overpopulation means.  

“The idea of a world with no room or food is terrifying, but all it takes is checking the facts see how silly the whole thing is. We hope this video will do that for people.”

The video, available at PRI's YouTube page, is also available at its accompanying website, “Overpopulation is a Myth.” The site presents more facts and figures behind the video in an accessible fashion.   It also features downloadable content and links to scientific sources.

“With the site, we really wanted to reach out to people, especially students and teachers, who feel alone in defending this position,” explains Joel Bockrath, PRI's Vice President for Operations.  “We wanted to give people easily viewable and downloadable content that they could use to back up their arguments.”

“All in all,” says Steven Mosher, PRI's president, “we think this is a great resource for those who know that the overpopulation argument is false, but haven't had access to the facts and figures they need to argue against it.  Precisely since the information is being presented in a humorous, engaging way, we feel like this could go a long way toward disproving a myth that has caused untold suffering throughout the world.”