an infant analog to post-traumatic stress disorder:
In a statement, the Doctors Opposing Circumcision said the judge's ruling protected "the boy's legal right to bodily integrity."Reuters 024.10.06
"Male circumcision in an irreversible amputation of functional tissue," it added.
"The ruling opens a very interesting question," said the group's John Geisheker. "If the benefits of circumcision are not available to a 9-year-old, what does that say about infants?"
At least one study has shown infants that have been circumcised later show a greater sensitivity to pain, "an infant analog to post-traumatic stress disorder," Geisheker said.
On the opposing side, one study suggested an uncircumcised penis may be more prone to becoming infected with HIV.
The practice of circumcising infant males is rare in Europe, while it is declining but remains common in the United States.
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The Ashley Montagu Campaign Against the Torture and Mutilation of Children
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An unbiased clip:
John Geisheker, a Seattle attorney who specializes in botched circumcision cases, is hoping for a new wave of cases based on the success of the New York case.
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A biased clip:
"Everyone I hear are waving their arms and saying we don't have a stick big enough to hit back at this issue," Tinari announces. "I've come to the conclusion, after years of studying, that no appeal to morality will ever end circumcision. You have to make it so financially painful that it ends by punishing practitioners. How do you do that? I may have the tool that we've been looking for."
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One scientific study:
These men were living in Orange Farm, a neighborhood near Johannesburg, South Africa, with high rates of HIV transmission and an existing male circumcision rate of approximately 20%. Prior to this study, the researchers had conducted a feasibility pilot study that found that 70% of men would consider circumcision if it were beneficial and safe.
Subjects willing to be circumcised were then randomized to receive immediate circumcision or to wait 20 months for the procedure. In the intervention group, medical physicians removed the penile foreskin after administering local anesthetic and using sterile surgical procedures.
At 21 months, the researchers diagnosed 69 new HIV cases, 51 in the control group that had yet to be circumcised, and 18 in the group that had been circumcised, Dr. Auvert said. This translates into a 65% protective effect (with a 95% confidence interval of 40% to 80%).
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A serendipitous appointment:
The research, presented at the International AIDS Conference here, builds on last year's finding that circumcised heterosexual men are at least 60% less likely to contract HIV than their uncircumcised counterparts.
Kevin De Cock, MD, director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS program, says that if the findings hold up, the global agency will issue guidelines backing the procedure for HIV prevention.
[...]
No one's really sure how circumcision might prevent infection with HIV, but De Cock offers several possibilities.
The foreskin is covered with a much thinner layer of cells than the penis, which could facilitate invasion by the virus, he says. Also, the foreskin has more cells that have targets for the virus, De Cock says.
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Sobering numbers:
Overall, 26% of individuals in Kisumu and 28% in Ndola were HIV-positive. In both sites, HIV prevalence in women was six times that in men among sexually active 15-19 year olds, three times that in men among 20-24 year olds, and equal to that in men among 25-49 year olds.
