Circumcision Ban

[BethK]

Male circumcision provides a degree of protection against acquiring HIV infection, equivalent
to what a vaccine of high efficacy would have achieved. Male circumcision may provide an important
way of reducing the spread of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. (Preliminary and partial results were
presented at the International AIDS Society 2005 Conference, on 26 July 2005, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.).

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info...ed.0020298

Mass circumcision to fight Aids: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6730261.stm

Aside from the potential benefits and risks (whatever they may be), I've been told that circumcising a
Muslim male is primarily aimed to improve his cleanliness.

The claim that circumcision prevents AIDS or offers even some degree of protection against AIDS
has long since been debunked.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-a-rizv...49728.html

(2007). "Langerin is a natural barrier to HIV-1 transmission by Langerhans cells". Nat
Med 13 (3): 367–71. (Indicates that circumision may make HIV infection MORE likely)

http://www.circumcisionandhiv.com/2010/0...l-associat ion-issues-statement-on-male-circumcision-of-infants-and-children-aap- no.html Royal Dutch Medical Association on Circumcision: "There is no convincing evidence that circumcision is useful or necessary in terms of prevention or hygiene."

The simplest way is to look at Europe. European men have a much lower rate of being circumcised than
do US men, Canadian men, Middle Eastern men, or African men. Yet, Europe has a much lower rate
of AIDS infections or deaths than these other countries or regions.


There is evidence showing that circumcised men have riskier sexual practices than do uncircumcised men
One reason suggested for this is that 20,000 nerve endings have been removed, making the penis
more numb, and requiring more stimulation to get the same results.

As far as "cleanliness", a better means of improving hygiene is to do better cleaning, teach better
cleaning Improving hygiene through amputation of a body part frequently in need of cleaning
is pretty extreme. Care to remove someone's fingers and toes because their nails need cleaning
frequently?