From: giamomj@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu (Mike G.)
Subject: Re: Need info on Circumcision, medical cons and pros
Organization: Drexel University
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Need info on Circumcision, medical cons and pros

In article <C63yG5.8tH@cs.uiuc.edu> Gunnar Blix, blix@milton.cs.uiuc.edu
writes:
>I need information on the medical (including emotional :-) pros and
>cons of circumcision (at birth).  I am especially interested in
>references to studies that indicate disadvantages or refute studies
>that indicate advantages.  A friend who is a medical student is
>writing a survey paper, and apparently the studies she has run into
>are all for circumcision, the main argument being a lower risk of
>penile cancer.
>
>Please email responses as I am not a frequent reader of either group.
>I will summarize to the net.

I'm very surprised that medical schools still push routine circumcision
of newborn males on the population. Since your friend is not a man, she
can't imagine what it's like to have a penis, much less a foreskin. I
guess if American medicine did an artistic job of circumcising every
male, then the visual result would be somewhat more natural in
appearance...

The penile cancer thing has been *completely* debunked...she must be
going to school on a South Pacific island. Tell her to check the Journal
or Urology for circumcision articles. I remember at least 1 on an old
Jewish man (cut at birth) who developed penile cancer....I mean, if the
cancer risk was that great, the Europe who have been circumcising like
crazy, too. Teaching a boy how to keep his cockhead clean is the issue: a
little proper hygiene goes a long way - Americans are just too hung up on
the penis to consider cleaning it: that's just way too much like
mastubation. So you have surgical intervention that is basically
unnecessary.
