CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]: Circumcision benefits outweigh risks
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CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]: Circumcision benefits outweigh risks
By Associated Press, December 2, 2014, reported by Mail Online, December 4, 2014
NEW YORK (AP) U.S. health officials on Tuesday released a draft of long-awaited federal guidelines on circumcision, saying medical evidence supports the procedure and health insurers should pay for it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines stop short of telling parents to have their newborn sons circumcised. That is a personal decision that may involve religious or cultural preferences, said the CDC's Dr. Jonathan Mermin.
But "the scientific evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the risks," added Mermin, who oversees the agency's programs on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision, a brief medical procedure that involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis. Germs can grow underneath the foreskin, and CDC officials say the procedure can lower a male's risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer and even urinary tract infections.
The CDC started working on the guidelines about seven years ago, when a cluster of influential studies in Africa indicated circumcision might help stop spread of the AIDS virus.
"The benefits of male circumcision have become more and more clear over the last 10 years," said Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Johns Hopkins University researcher involved in one of the African studies.
But the guidelines are important, because the rates of newborn male circumcision have been dropping, he added.
The guidelines are being published in the federal register Tuesday. For the next 45 days, the CDC will receive public comment before finalizing them next year.
They are likely to draw intense opposition from anti-circumcision advocacy groups, said Dr. Douglas Diekema, a Seattle physician who worked on a circumcision policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2012.
"This is a passionate issue for them and they feel strongly that circumcision is wrong," said Diekema, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.
FILE - In this July 28, 2011, file photo, anti-circumcision activists Frank McGinness, right, and Jeff Brown rally against circumcision with about 25 protesters outside a San Francisco courthouse. On Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, U.S. health officials released a draft of the government's long-awaited guidelines on circumcision, which say benefits of the procedure outweigh the risks and health insurers should pay for it. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision, a brief medical procedure that involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis. Germs can grow underneath the foreskin, and CDC officials say the procedure can lower a male's risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer and even urinary tract infections.
The CDC started working on the guidelines about seven years ago, when a cluster of influential studies in Africa indicated circumcision might help stop spread of the AIDS virus.
"The benefits of male circumcision have become more and more clear over the last 10 years," said Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Johns Hopkins University researcher involved in one of the African studies.
Click this link to read the whole article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2858168/CDC-Circumcision-benefits-outweigh-risks.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
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That's an interesting legal concept - can a man circumcised at birth, upon reaching adulthood, sue his parents for having the procedure performed on him without his permission? I guess that would open up all kinds of lawsuits against parents for so many different circumstances.
Catholic religion does not accept circumcision :
The Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association now defines neonatal circumcision as a "non-therapeutic" surgical procedure.4 Circumcisions (as commonly performed on newborn boys) are non-therapeutic, because no disease is present and no therapeutic treatment is required. Furthermore, circumcision removes healthy and functional tissue from the body and renders the part less functional.5 Thus, a circumcision is a non-therapeutic amputation and mutilation. Therefore, for Catholics, non-therapeutic circumcision at any age is immoral according to the teaching of the Church as expressed in the Catechism.
The Catholic Church also considers pedophilia to be immoral. LOL
That was 15 years ago. This new CDC study is current.
Years ago, my son's pediatrician, his neo-natologist, and my OB/GYN recommended it, for health reasons. I never gave it a second thought. He was anesthesized and survived it well.
I've never seen an uncircumcized male, and thanks, but I don't want to see pictures. Maybe it is just my age, or inexperience, or niavity, or whatever, but I haven't a clue.
Just picture a turtleneck sweater that covers the whole head.
I want to thank my parents for having me circumcised before I could do anything about it. If it was left up to me as an adult, I doubt I would have done it and I do believe it is a much healthier and less subjected to problems throughout life to be circumcised.
Some people say it cuts down on sensitivity. If one wears a condom it's not going to make any difference whatsoever, and in my personal "barebacking" experience, it was sufficiently sensitive as far as I'm concerned.
Maybe in the US John, but Catholics around the world are not routinely circumcised.
My husband is from Ireland and born into a very Catholic family (being from Ireland and all) and he is not.
As a woman married to a man who is uncircumcised, I feel like I have to at least say something....
As with anything on your body, it is as healthy and problematic as anything else. The misconception of uncircumcised penises being dirty or diseased is just that; a misconception.
Any penis playing in a dirty playground and mistreated is going to be kinda dirty and spreading things around. Circumcision may make it easier to clean, but pulling a foreskin back is no big challenge to cleaning if you actually do it.
I guess what I'm saying is, personal habits are more important than physical attributes. Given poor personal habits anyone can spread disease.
I too was circumcised as a baby by my Catholic parents and thank them for it. Though I had no choice in the matter, I certainly agree with their decision.