

AP Photo/John Bazemore
Circumcision, the practice of removing the skin that covers the tip of the penis, is a procedure commonly performed shortly after the birth of a male child. Approximately 79% of adult males in the United States have been circumcised. Circumcision is known to reduce the risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), as well as reducing the risk of urinary tract infections. However, circumcision is not considered a medical necessity nor is it required by law.
That may be about to change, if the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has its way. A new proposal being floated by the CDC would make circumcision mandatory in all newborn males in the U.S. By doing this, the CDC asserts that the rate of new HIV infections would dramatically decrease. Some studies in African countries indicate that a circumcised male has a 60% lower risk of contracting HIV from a woman than an uncircumcised man.
The weakness in the CDC's position is that men contracting HIV from women in the U.S. is not where the AIDS epidemic in America is based. The primary cause of the spread of HIV in the United States is through men having sex with men, and studies do not indicate circumcision provides any additional protection for homosexual sex.
Opponents of circumcision assert that it is an unnecessary mutilation of a child's genitalia that provides no actual physical or health benefits. They assert that money spent on mandating circumcision could be better spent on quality sex education programs targeted towards the real source of the AIDS problem in the United States.
Many are particularly upset with making circumcision mandatory. While many see no problem with a physician explaining the potential benefits of circumcision to new parents, a legal mandate for what some see as genital mutilation is going too far. Legislation of that nature is guaranteed to spark protests and litigation. It is unclear whether the CDC will seek legislation to mandate circumcision, or if they will merely promote it as a good health practice. However, when a government agency states they want to make the practice "routine" and "universal," it seems clear they will push the practice as far as they can.
Circumcision will be one of the topics at this week's at the Centers for Disease Control's National STD Prevention Conference in Atlanta. The CDC expects to release a formal draft of proposals by the end of the year.
For more information:

Comments
I am a pediatric surgical nurse. Medicaid won't even pay for circumcisions for children under 1 year old, and over 1 year they have to have documentation of phimosis.
The CDC is blindly and ignorantly considering recommending circumcision, based on inconclusive studies not done in the US, even the American Association of Pediatrics, who has never recommended circumcision in its 70 year history is against them, this is bs, circumcision does not prevent HIV, I am circumcised and very unhappy about it, I am restoring my foreskin, and I will never circumcise my son, don't you think if circumcision prevented anything, 80% of the world would not be uncircumcised.
Both my kids needed to be circumcised - two different medical reasons. One when he was three, the other when he was eighteen months. Insurance refused to pay for my three year old, saying it absolutely was not covered. They denied three appeals and we paid out of pocket. They paid 80% of what they deemed was "coverable" of my other son. If the CDC is going to mandate this procedure, they better dXXn well make sure insurance covers it. I feel the same way about the CDC push for all the vaccines - especially if they're going to mandate them. Make sure it's covered - 100% covered.
EXCUSE ME? I have seen news that it will be encouraged, but not MANDATORY! I am sick of lies being spread, now in this supposedly newsworthy Examiner.com.
The US is the only country that is ignorant on the true functions of the foreskin. We have a culture of circumcising here. I was circumcised at birth and, after I discovered what I lost, I restored my foreskin. Many other men are doing the same. See websites like www.RestoringForeskin.org.
The supposed health benefits for circumcision are pretty much statistically insignificant. As for HIV prevention, babies don't have sex, let the adult decide for himself. Also, a recent study found that women are more at risk for HIV with a circumcised partner.
Read your own link! Nowhere is MANDATORY ever implied! LIE LIE LIE!
Who cares if its mandatory or recommended, both are ignorant decisions on the CDC's part
Just assume everything a conservative says is a lie. It will save time and you rarely if ever will be wrong.
When the government says they want something to be "universal," they usually mean it.
Read your own link! Nowhere is MANDATORY ever implied! LIE LIE LIE!
Right now it is being recomended. But just wait until the health reform legislation that is now being debated in this country is passed. Male circumcision will be mandatory. I don't think I'm to far off from being right on this one. That is why CDC has recomended it should be done.
Lisa - you are a spazz. And when the government wants something done "universally," or to be "regulated," or is recommended by the CDC; you can bet your (foreskin) that's how it's gonna be.
The United States has the highest circumcision rate AND the highest per capita HIV rate in the developed world. Western Europe has a very low per capita HIV rate and NO circumcision. When HIV was first discovered in the 1980s, circumcision was nearly universal - almost 90% of babies were circumcised. Universal circumcision didn't make a difference back then and bringing it back won't make a difference now. Our graveyards have men dead from HIV, buried with their circumcised penises.
If you want to protect your kid from HIV and other STDs, educate him (or her) and make sure he (and she) has access to condoms. If the CDC passes this nonsense instead of promoting sensible, proven solutions, I'll have even less respect for them than I do now.
If you think it is just skin, you don't have it. 20,000 FINE TOUCH AND STRETCH nerve endings should NOT be amputated from baby boys without asking the owner. The CDC wants to take their main pleasure zones and expose them to staph infection. This is such crap.
There is a greater chance of the baby boy getting MRSA staph from this in a US hospital than the same kid getting HIV through his life. This is such a strange idea that one wonders why the US Meds have this obsession. We have higher HIV and very high Circ rate as compared to natural uncut EU and JP. Could it be cut male Drs and female MDs that are from cut tradition are trying to find a way to keep this barbaric practice going in the US? No other developed country is saying this! They think we are obsessed with choping off baby boy genitals.
The alleged risk change (not seen in non african studies) is from 3.2% risk to about 1.78 % risk. Oh and BTW, circumcision raises (makes transmission more likely) the HIV for women. It
Circumcision is a PERSONAL CHOICE and the gov't needs to stay the HELL OUT of IT! In fact, they need to STAY the HELL out of our HEALTH CARE decisions altogether!!!!
If this does happen, I'm revoking my US citizenship and moving to somewhere more civilized. Pick almost any industrialized country and circumcision is far from the norm there. It's ironic that this is being discussed while other countries are trying to make all circumcision illegal!
No son of mine is cut, or will be. How stupid!
Keep up the good fight, JJ. There are hundreds of thousands of citizens out there that think just like you. We are "intactivists." Learn the term well because this shit will hit the fan.
It would be nice if the reporter would read the report before writing an article. The CDC does not plan to mandate this. They don't have the legal authority to do so if they wanted to. They are talking about recommending that this be done routinely.
Calm down, take a breath, read the damn report.
makes sense, along with mandatory breast removal after a woman turns 30....think of the lives we could save and the carbon footprint due to manufacturing bras.....
Gee, think the article writer has an agenda to push or what? Look, I'm absolutely in agreement that circumcision is not only unnecessary but probably damaging to boys. And we shouldn't be making any conclusions based on ONE study. However, once more, with feeling: NO ONE IS MANDATING CIRCUMCISION. The CDC recommending something has NO force of law. Parents will still be more than free NOT to do have this surgical procedure performed on their sons. I would greatly appreciate the media would quit spreading conspiracy theories such as this.
"Public health officials are considering promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to reduce the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS."
So "promoting routine circumcision" = "mandatory circumcision for all newborn males in the U.S." Just as "reimbursing doctors for end-of-life discussions with their patients" = "euthanasia for old and unproductive Americans (i.e. "death panels")." The ability of Conservatives to lie about absolutely everything never ceases to amaze me.
I hate this dumbed down country. I have no respect for a country that violates human rights to genital integrity.
What gives us the right to alter God's creations? God knows best! They can pry my foreskin from my cold, stiff...um...er...fingers.
The government "promotes" programs by linking them to the receipt of federal funds. You want federal subsidies for your hospital? Then you better push people to get their baby boys circumcised. Linking programs to the receipt of federal funds is how the government got the states to raise the drinking age - if a state wanted funds for their highways, they had to change their laws. Go look through the bills in Congress at www.Politics4all.com and you'll see how often a program is "promoted" by making it a condition of receiving money.
"I have seen news that it will be encouraged, but not MANDATORY!"
Lisa, you seem really outraged by the idea that people might not want their son's penises mutilated, and deny it will be "mandatory" despite the fact that for all purposes it already is. Why does opposition to unnecessary genital mutilation enrage you so much?
How on earth did we ever get by with our foreskins intact? I've never had any sort of disease/disorder that was created/exacerbated by my foreskin. Didn;t we used to take tonsils out back in the day...
No.
Yay! Finally, every boy will be cut. It's really pretty funny: I bet every doctor in the CDC is cut. Finally we have medical cover to make sure every boy is circumcised good and tight before can go to school. By promoting the cut, the government can make sure that doctors and hospital who don't comply won't get the money, and that alone will ensure 99% compliance.
This has got to be the best news! Go U.S.A!!!
I pratically have to wear girly girl underwear if I want a day without chafing pain from my unchosen position as a circumsized man. I will get violent if this is true and people start taking sides. I practically smack some moms who are too lazy to touch their baby boys so the mutilate them. Grrr
F U CDC!!!! you try to poison our children with unessicery vaccines,causing autism,brain damage and even death. and now you want to take away a boys right TO HIS OWN PINIS??!!?!? you fkrs can go to h3ll. MY SON IS INTACT, AND IF I HAVE MORE BOYS THEY WILL BE INTACT TOO. AND THERE ISNT SH1T YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!!!!! f u, fk your new world order bull sh1t!!!
Sure, circumcision won't become mandatory. Just like immunizations are not mandatory - unless you want your kids to go to public school.
lets cut off breasts too, b/c breast cancer kills. how about showing how many africans in the study actually had access to condoms and a regular bath or shower???
I would actually go to war against this! I am uncirumcised and this is more a Jew/Muslim thing and I am a Catholic so this would violate my freedom of speech and religion. I've never had any problem with my penis and the fact that people think it gets dirty and unhygenic is a myth. It does not take long at all to clean. You take a bath or shower, give it a bit of the rinse with soap and water and Wollah! It's clean. Maybe they should worry more about passing a Healthcare plan that would work for everyone where people have choices. What's next have gay men sew their anuses shut. Make breast feeding illegal. Force people to eat organic foods. Penn and Teller should do a bullshit show regarding circumcision if they haven't done so already.
Screw Freedom. We gotta stop AIDS. How about they stop doing BS studies in Africa and do some studies here in the US where we have easy access to condoms and regular medical care. Tribes in africa live out in the middle of no where with no condoms or hospitals nearby. It's really stupid that these CDC fascist bureaucrats can't tell the difference between Africa and the United States.
JerryG, unfortunately, many US citizens have not even SEEN a foreskin in their entire lives because most men are hacked apart at birth. They hear the word foreskin and they think of dank, dark, festering rot. What they don't think of is smoother sex, Mario Lopez, most of the Beatles, David Beckham, Prince William, Prince Harry, etc.
www.circumstitions.com
Babbs, The CDC can lobby Congress for this change as a public health measure and make it mandatory/universal. Don't under estimate what those who have this sexual perversion will do. For more than 100 years, they have made false claim after false claim for male circumcision. Before a court case in 1973, many hospitals routinely circumcised *every* baby boy born in their facilities regardless of parental wishes or instruction not to circumcise. Congressmen are exceptionally gullible and would regard The CDC as an authority and just might pass legislation mandating infant male circumcision.
Australia at this time has banned circumcision in public hospitals in 5 of the 6 provinces and is pushing for a complete ban in the country. The President of The Australian Medical Association and the Children's Commissioner are pushing hard for the ban. Canada has practically abandoned circumcision and only a few physicians will still perform the procedure.
I read that the AAP is being lobbied, in conjunction with the CDC, to promote neonatal circumcision on the grounds that it prevents HIV.
I read of the simply disgraceful conduct at a recent CDC conference, where uncircumcised men were derided as having elephant trunks. See h t t p : / / www.rollingdoughnut.com/2009/08/hanna_rosin_is_mistaken_on_cir.html
It looks like the CDC has lost credibility with this sort of behavior. Until the CDC can explain why Europe, where circumcision is rare, has a *lower* HIV rate than the U.S., it will continue to look like the CDC is just culturally and sexually biased to promote sexual surgery on non-consenting minors.
Hasn't the experiment already been done? Most men in the U.S. are circumcised, and our HIV rates are higher than many non-circumcising countries. If anything, the message the CDC is sending out is that circumcision mitigates unsafe sex practices, but this can only make the HIV epidemic worse.
well, my son was "cut" when he was 48 hours old. We did this because my husband had to have a very painful, memorable, medically necessary circumsision when he was 17. It was not what I thought I would do, but knowing the terrible pain my husband went through, I made the difficult decision to have it done. I insisted on being in the room (although the hospital said I couldn't, my doctor said I could). Ny son slept through the entire procedure and there was not a sound from him as he slept. It was over in less than 3 seconds. While I am absolutely not a proponent of mandating ANY medical procedure, in my son's experience, it was neither painful or traumtic in any way. I would never vote for any politician who supports any measure like this.
Whenever a procedure is "recommended" by a government entity, madating that procedure is the next step. Beware!
Wow. The Examiner really does allow just anyone to write, don't they?
I hate to burst your heterosexual protection bubble, but HIV infections in the United States are experiencing their fastest rate of increase among heterosexual couples, not among male to male homosexual relationships.
Next time, do a little research.
Wow, "Dr John" obviously has not looked at the CDC data, which shows the overwhelming majority of new HIV cases are from male to male sex. Perhaps the "doctor" has his own agenda.
Circumcision is mutilation.
ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING!
I think the statistics related in this piece are very slanted. How can they categorically prove that HIV contraction is related to circumcision? I believe it to be mutilation. We do not support female circumcision in any circumstance so why have we supported male circumcision?
Enough with cutting newborn boys. We don't do it to girls anymore, this has to come next or else it is a plain double standard in broad daylight. It's hypocrisy.
This is bs. I've done a lot of research on circumcision, and no son of mine will ever be circumcised, unless he chooses it. There's not that much of a difference in health benefits, and I'll be damned if the government decides it can mutilate my son if it wants to. My babies will be delivered by a midwife, too. So many doctors do unnecessary c-sections b/c they don't know what they're doing. And I won't have the doctors taking my child's blood and storing it without my permission, simply because "it's procedure." You'll have to consult me on that, first.
If you're circumcised and need a protective cover all you have to do is un-roll a latex condom, snip a little hole at the tip of the condom-end nipple with a nail clipper. Then run water through the condom to rinse out whatever is in it to get it to a clean interior latex surface. The water will accumulate somewhat within the un-rolled condom before the water can exit. This will keep water force downward allowing you to roll the condom back up. After that, apply Vaseline onto your penis head and shaft then roll the condom over it, all the way to the base. The surface tension between the inside of the latex condom and Vaseline on the surface will hole it in place without any slipping. It will also set like this. As you keep your new prosthetic latex foreskin on, your penis head will return to the sensitivity of a non-circumcised penis head. You can urinate through the hole and will have constant protection from chaffing. Take it off during sex. Your comfort & sex life will be GREAT! :)
Why is it still legal in America to cut on a child's private parts without numbing them?
Baby boys are still circumcised without anesthic in the USA.
Would an adult like to have their most sensative part cut with a knife while they are awake and feeling it all?
This is barbaric sadistic toture of children of the worst possible kind.
Th arguement is that baby's don't feel this or don't remember this. This is the worst case of idiotic behavior in the united states and we need to fix it now.
You also hear about baby's having their bottoms smacked to get them to first cry - so what is it?
It is torture. Plain and Simple.
Who IS that puke puddle looking female cross dressed transvestite behind the CDC podium? Surely she is severely afflicted with mental illnesses of every description and needs "treatment." Send her to the Sudan so SHE can get circumcised. The MD's of this country are pushing this because they see it as defense against law suits. Men, if you've been circumcised, the medical community has interfered with your sex life and made it less pleasurable for your partner also. Read what Roman Emperor Hadrian did about sexual butchery of males.
Dear Mama
So what if you think is was a lovely peacful experience for your newborn. They have been known to pass out for christ's sake. How do you know this wasn't the case? Did they dope him prior to the operation for your sake (not his)?
Besides, even if your view is an accurate reflection of reality, your son can look forward to a different reality once he is old enough to start researching why he was mutilated and what he has lost. I am sure you can look forward to that comfortable conversation in 20 to 40 years from now.
If the US institutes this, then global sanctions are required.
Pages