The pendulum swings back: circumcision benefits outweigh the risks

[MillCreek]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d18e670cfdbe48f1963be0790dab9474/cdc-circumcision-benefits-outweigh-risks

Enthusiasm for the medical benefits of circumcision has waxed and waned over the years.  In recent years, clinical benefit for the procedure has been on the upswing.

[roo_ster]

The swelling consensus for circumcision will be cut off short by the demographic producing the most boy children in American hospitals, who have no use for the practice.

[cambeul41]

The swelling consensus for circumcision will be cut off short by the demographic producing the most boy children in American hospitals, who have no use for the practice.

I'm lost.  What demographic is that?

[roo_ster]

I'm lost.  What demographic is that?

South of the border crowd not too keen on circumcision.

[Angel Eyes]

The swelling consensus for circumcision will be cut off short . . .

I see what you did there.

[Balog]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d18e670cfdbe48f1963be0790dab9474/cdc-circumcision-benefits-outweigh-risks

Enthusiasm for the medical benefits of circumcision has waxed and waned over the years.  In recent years, clinical benefit for the procedure has been on the upswing.

Things like this, and the constant waffling over eggs, and the low fat diet scam that contributed to america's obesity epidemic, the utter lack of evidence for the harmfulness of salt etc etc are why I think it's such a mistake to equate "The latest research shows" with "This is a true thing."

[MillCreek]

^^^Or another way of looking at it is that the truth can change over time based on additional research and that is the nature of the beast in evidence-based medical care.  Some of the research coming out recently about Advanced Coronary Life Support just flabbergasts me because it has the potential to overturn decades of established practice.

[Balog]

^^^Or another way of looking at it is that the truth can change over time based on additional research and that is the nature of the beast in evidence-based medical care.  Some of the research coming out recently about Advanced Coronary Life Support just flabbergasts me because it has the potential to overturn decades of established practice.

No. The truth is a constant. What is accepted as truth changes all the time though, which is why the people who say "This is our best understanding at this time" and substitute it for "This is true" drive me crazy.

[zahc]

I love how they state a complication rate of 0.5%...apparently excising a big arbitrary chuck of the organ is declared "not a complication".

The practice is not going to silently go away...it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in easy revenue every year, plus more money later in viagra when what they left attached quits trying. And contemporary society has shown that it is reluctant to consider males, no matter how defenseless, to be victims. After all since all copulation is rape, genital mutilation seems like deserved punishment.

[MechAg94]

I love how they state a complication rate of 0.5%...apparently excising a big arbitrary chuck of the organ is declared "not a complication".

The practice is not going to silently go away...it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in easy revenue every year, plus more money later in viagra when what they left attached quits trying. And contemporary society has shown that it is reluctant to consider males, no matter how defenseless, to be victims. After all since all copulation is rape, genital mutilation seems like deserved punishment.

circumcision =/= amputation 

[Balog]

Circumcision is to FGM what the American "War on Women" is to Muslims stoning female rape victims.

[RevDisk]

I love how they state a complication rate of 0.5%...apparently excising a big arbitrary chuck of the organ is declared "not a complication".

The practice is not going to silently go away...it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in easy revenue every year, plus more money later in viagra when what they left attached quits trying. And contemporary society has shown that it is reluctant to consider males, no matter how defenseless, to be victims. After all since all copulation is rape, genital mutilation seems like deserved punishment.

[Balog]

[White Horseradish]

The original benefit was supposed to be prevention of masturbation. I'm pretty sure we all know how that worked out.

Personally, I find the pro-circumcision arguments rather laughable. Even if you are hung like Mr. Ed, it really isn't that hard to clean. And if some Africans can't figure out how to do it, I am really not sure why US needs to follow their example.

Also, I have to giggle at how often the pro-circ people are usually the same ones grousing about the silliness of ear tunnels and piercings. Body mods are body mods.

[Perd Hapley]

The original benefit was supposed to be prevention of masturbation.

According to who? 

Also, I have to giggle at how often the pro-circ people are usually the same ones grousing about the silliness of ear tunnels and piercings. Body mods are body mods.

Um, no, there are a number of different reasons for body modification. Bypass surgery, for example, is not the same kind of "body mod" as a cosmetic nose-piercing.

[Balog]

The original benefit was supposed to be prevention of masturbation. I'm pretty sure we all know how that worked out.

I must have missed that verse.

[White Horseradish]

According to who? 

Dr. Kellogg and the rest of the quacks who popularized it in the US.

Um, no, there are a number of different reasons for body modification. Bypass surgery, for example, is not the same kind of "body mod" as a cosmetic nose-piercing.

Bypass surgery? Seriously? 

[Balog]

Dr. Kellogg and the rest of the quacks who popularized it in the US.

Wow, I had no idea that circumcision was invented in the late 1800's in America to combat masturbation. Thanks for clearing that up.

[gunsmith]

Things like this, and the constant waffling over eggs, and the low fat diet scam that contributed to america's obesity epidemic, the utter lack of evidence for the harmfulness of salt etc etc are why I think it's such a mistake to equate "The latest research shows" with "This is a true thing."

yup! I agree, since eliminating "low fat" I've lost weight - low carb/high fat lots of meat.... "I'll take steak an eggs mam, no toast or potatos - extra coffee"

[zahc]

Bypass surgery, for example, is not the same kind of "body mod" as a cosmetic nose-piercing. 

Somebody needs to study up on the distinction between therapeutic, prophylactic, and cosmetic reasons for surgery.

Routine neonatal circumcision is allegedly prophylactic (actually cosmetic in most cases). Surgery to remove body parts for prophylaxis is drastic and unheard of except in this particular case. Back when they used to remove tonsils all the time, at least they left you alone until you got sick.

It is well-known why routine neonatal circumcision became widespread...early-industrial-age medical quackery, nothing more. Baby girls were not spared; Kellogg recommended dripping acid on their clitorus (of course before they were old enough so as to make holding them down difficult). The objective was the same...destroy the maximum amount of erogenous tissue while leaving the victim mechanically able to procreate. The reason routine neonatal circumcision persists in the US is manyfold

1) men who were themselves mutilated as infants, and don't want to admit that they were harmed, and despite (or perhaps because) having no point of reference since the decision to amputate the interesting structures of their penis was made for them, they decide they prefer an abbreviated organ as a coping mechanism
2)"they did it to me when I was defenseless, so now that I am the one in power I am going to do it to you (lest you get off easier than I did)" (this attitude is is also prevalent in pedagogy)
3) it's $300 adder to otherwise routine births, that insurance pays for. Yes I do think humanity in general and the medical field in particular is depraved enough to perpetuate a useless and disfiguring procedure through pure banal profit motive. Follow the money. When the mutilations stopped being covered in the UK the establishment all of a sudden decided it wasn't so necessary after all.

[MicroBalrog]

2)"they did it to me when I was defenseless, so now that I am the one in power I am going to do it to you (lest you get off easier than I did)" (this attitude is is also prevalent in pedagogy)

And the military.

And the field of government regulation.

[230RN]

Every year on January first, I have a high old time of it celebrating the Feast of the Circumcision.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Circumcision_of_Christ

I'm not signing this one so nobody will know who posted it.

[Blakenzy]

Don't try to fix what ain't broke 

Alternatives to circumcision (that achieve the same benefits the CDC purports):

1)Wear a condom... or better yet, don't have sex with people you don't know really well.

2)Retract foreskin and wash glans every time you take a shower. Unless you plan to wander around the desert for decades on end, this shouldn't be a problem.

[BryanP]

Wow, I had no idea that circumcision was invented in the late 1800's in America to combat masturbation. Thanks for clearing that up.

Popularized and Invented aren't the same thing.

[MechAg94]

So is there some sort of data someone gathered to estimate the numbers of circumcisions performed before and after Dr. Cornflakes?