"..Circumcision May cause Urinary Tract Infection"
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are rare, and mainly occur in the first year of life. They are several times more common in girls than boys (but of course surgery is never considered for girls).
They are painful, and women's experience of them is a powerful inducement to have sons circumcised, if they imagine that this will protect them. In fact, a significant proportion of boys contract UTIs even though they are circumcised. A study in Israel found they mainly occurred in girls at four months, but in boys soon after they were circumcised.... Now an Australian study suggests circumcision may cause urinary problems. More..
Pediatricians turn away from circumcision
The United States is the only country that routinely circumcises baby boys for non-religious reasons
CNN, U.S.A.
March 1, 1999
ATLANTA (CNN) -- American pediatricians are turning away from the practice of routine circumcision, concluding that doctors have no good medical reason to perform the procedure.
The United States is the only country in the world that routinely removes the foreskins of infant boys. Critics of circumcision got additional ammunition Monday from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a leading medical organization.
The academy concluded the benefits "are not compelling enough" for circumcision to be routinely administered.
A newborn winces in pain after a circumcision
Monday's statement, published in the March edition of the journal Pediatrics, was the academy's first in 10 years on the practice. But in recent years, medical societies in Canada, Britain and Australia have come out in opposition to routine circumcision.
Critics have long contended that removing the foreskin from the penis is traumatic, medically unnecessary and may reduce sexual pleasure later in life. As one critic, Dr. George Denniston, put it: "Who are we to question mother nature?"
Canadian researchers, whose study was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, studied the heart rates and crying patterns of babies during different stages of circumcision.
In fact, in the study they found the babies suffered so much trauma that they stopped the study part way through.
The results were so compelling that they took the unusual step of stopping the study before it was scheduled to end rather than subjecting any more babies to circumcision.
One baby stopped breathing for 25 seconds from the trauma of having part of his foreskin severed. More..
Circumcision - Male Genital Mutilation
Position Statements of Medical Societies in English-Speaking Countries
2003 British Medical Association
The BMA does not believe that parental preference alone constitutes sufficient grounds for performing a
surgical procedure on a child unable to express his own view. . . . Parental preference must be weighed in
terms of the child's interests. . . . The BMA considers that the evidence concerning health benefit from
non-therapeutic circumcision is insufficient for this alone to be a justification for doing it. . . . Some
doctors may wish to not perform circumcisions for reasons of conscience. Doctors are under no obligation to
comply with a request to circumcise a child.
2002 Royal Australasian College of Physicians
After extensive review of the literature the RACP reaffirms that there is no medical indication for routine
male circumcision. The possibility that routine circumcision may contravene human rights has been raised
because circumcision is performed on a minor and is without proven medical benefit. . . . Review of the
literature in relation to risks and benefits shows there is no evidence of benefit outweighing harm for
circumcision as a routine procedure.
2002 Canadian Paediatric Society (reaffirmed 1996 position)
Circumcision of newborns should not be routinely performed.
2000 American Medical Association
The AMA supports the general principles of the 1999 Circumcision Policy Statement of the American Academy
of Pediatrics.
1999 American Academy of Pediatrics
Existing scientific evidence demonstrates potential medical benefits of newborn male circumcision; however,
these data are not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision.
1996 Australian College of Paediatrics
The Australasian Association of Paediatric Surgeons has informed the College that neonatal male
circumcision has no medical indication. It is a traumatic procedure performed without anaesthesia to remove
a normal functional and protective prepuce [foreskin].
1996 Australasian Association of Paediatric Surgeons
We do not support the removal of a normal part of the body, unless there are definite indications to
justify the complications and risks which may arise. In particular, we are opposed to male children being
subjected to a procedure, which had they been old enough to consider the advantages and disadvantages, may
well have opted to reject the operation and retain their prepuce [foreskin]....The 1989 United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child states that State parties should take all effective and appropriate
measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
Letter to the Editor
Canadian Medical Association Journal
The Editor
Canadian Medical Association Journal
P O Box 8650
Ottawa ON K1G 3Y6, CANADA
Dear Editor,
Thanks to Eleanor LeBourdais for her accurate article, Circumcision No Longer a Routine Surgical Procedure (CMAJ 52: 18731876, June 1, 1995). Indeed, Canadian Provincial Health agencies have come to recognise that circumcision should no longer be paid for. In 1975, forty-four percent (44%) of males born in Canada were circumcised and paid for by Provincial Health agencies. By 1995, only four percent (4%)of male births had circumcisions paid for by Provincial or Territorial health agencies. (The number of recent circumcisions paid for privately is not known.) In a country where virtually all health care is paid for by Provincial or Territorial health agencies, these agencies have come, one by one, to the same significant conclusion, that the routine removal of normal penile tissue is contraindicated.
There remains but one country in the world (United States of America) where the removal of normal penile tissue for nonreligious reasons is inflicted on significant numbers of unconsenting minors. This activity still has the tacit acquiescence of physicians in this country.
Very truly yours,
George C. Denniston MD, MPH
