(Found) Sci fi plot - the world is overpopulated, the popular world leader wants every to take a pill that will kill one out of three people

[Cookbacon99]

Hi. Looking for a book I read in the mid to late 1980s. It is set a few decades into the future from the 80s. It starts off with a young woman showing off her new modified dog that can partially speak. The main plot is that the world is overpopulated, and a very popular leader has risen to power with the solution to have ever one take a pill, so that one in three takes poison and dies. However, his actual plan is that all the pills are poison.

A high intelligence group exists that is working on a solution to overpopulation and the food supply. It turns out to be modifying humans to get nutrients directly from the dirt.

Thank you for any help. I've been trying to remember the title or author for years.

 

[Bick]

The Sooey Pill - a short story by Elaine Slater?

 

[tachyon]

I think you're pulling imagery from 2 different books with similar themes of overpopulation.

The talking dog from "Beggars and Choosers" by Nancy Kress.
Poison pills from "Nature's End" by James Kunetka and Whitley Strieber

 

[Cookbacon99]

Nature's End! Thank you so much!

 

[Eternity_TARO]

I think you're pulling imagery from 2 different books with similar themes of overpopulation.

The talking dog from "Beggars and Choosers" by Nancy Kress.
Poison pills from "Nature's End" by James Kunetka and Whitley Strieber

You beat me to it!

Nancy Kress's books has some very interesting concepts in it... definitely worth reading.