Statement by the President Upon Appointing the Committee on Population and Family Planning.

I AM APPOINTING a committee of distinguished citizens and Government officials to make a careful review of Federal policies and programs in relation to worldwide and domestic needs in the area of population and family planning.

I am asking the committee:

--to determine ways of providing the American people with meaningful information about population change and assuring that its significance will be understood by the rising generation;

--to define the Federal Government's direct role in research and training in population matters, including the physiology of human reproduction, in fertility control and the development of new contraceptives, and the Government's role in supporting such research and training in private institutions at home and overseas;

--to define the responsibility of the Federal Government, in cooperation with State, community, and private agencies in assuring that all families have access to information and services that will enable them to plan the number and spacing of their children;

--to suggest actions which the United States should take in concert with other countries and with international organizations to help the developing countries of the world to understand and to deal effectively with their high rates of population growth.

I am asking the committee to provide me with an estimate of the costs of an effective 5-year program plan in research, training, and services.

The committee may establish working groups of Government and non-Government experts to study technical, economic, or social aspects of the population problem.

I am asking the committee to report to me within 120 days.