New study: Infant circumcision comparable to childhood vaccination
Researchers find half of uncircumcised men contract an adverse medical condition cause by their foreskin over their lifetime.
The writers of a new study on circumcision rates in the United States claims that infant circumcision is comparable to childhood vaccination.
According to a preview of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings study, which will be published in full next month, half of uncircumcised males will contract an adverse medical condition cause by their foreskin over their lifetime.
"The new findings now show that infant circumcision should be regarded as equivalent to childhood vaccination and that as such it would be unethical not to routinely offer parents circumcision for their baby boy. Delay puts the child’s health at risk and will usually mean it will never happen," said Brian Morris, Professor Emeritus in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney.
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Morris and his colleagues found that circumcision helps protect against urinary tract infections that can damage the kidneys in half of babies who get UTI. According to the study's findings, one in three uncircumcised males contracts UTI over their lifetime.
Morris and John Krieger of the University of Washington's Department of Urology also found in a systematic review that there is no adverse effect of circumcision on sexual function, sensitivity or pleasure. With this, the study dispels a common myth perpetuated by opponents of circumcision.
Examining the rate of circumcision in men in the US, the study found that over the past decade, circumcision rates has risen to 81%.
But while circumcision rates have risen in grown men (Caucasian men to 91%, African American men to 76% and Hispanic men to 44%), there was a considerable decline in infant circumcision - from a high of 83% in the 1960s to 77% today.
'Extremely worrying' study
The study was not accepted with open-arms in the medical community, however.
Professor Kevin Pringle, Professor of Pediatrics and Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Otago in Wellington, said Thursday he found the study "extremely worrying."
Prof Pringle disputed a claim in the study that quotes more than a 20-fold increase in the risk of penile cancer for uncircumcised men.
"The incidence of penile cancer in Israel (almost 100 per cent of males circumcised) is about the same as that in Scandinavia (circumcision the exception), suggesting that it is cleanliness, rather than godliness that is important," he was quoted by the Australian Associated Press as saying.
Furthermore, the comparison with vaccination was inappropriate, as most of the vaccinations infants are given are meant to prevent diseases that are potentially lethal or produce significant handicap.
