He writes that doctors have an important role in providing preventive health care, including childhood immunizations. "Consider newborn circumcision as a vaccine that has a preventive health role against not one but many disorders," he writes.

"In chronological order from infancy through old age, these include severe infant urinary tract infections (UTIs) during the first year of life; local penile infections (balanoposthitis) and mechanical retraction problems (phimosis) in childhood; sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV and AIDS, in young adults; and penile and cervical cancer in older adults. Circumcision makes genital hygiene easier throughout life."

Three recent studies in Africa show that circumcision offers a 60 percent to 70 percent protective effect for heterosexual males against contracting HIV, "an effect equivalent to that of many vaccines," he writes. "The results of these studies were so compelling that the trials had to be stopped early, as it was no longer ethical to put men in the uncircumcised control group. The protective effect of circumcision against HIV has been recognized since the 1980s."

According to Schoen, "The preventive effect of circumcision against HIV has now officially been accepted by the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and the National Institutes of Health, and some African countries have begun adult circumcision as a public health measure."

He also contends that circumcision as a protection against other sexually transmitted infections "is well documented," noting that in the past decade, "a large multinational study has shown that uncircumcised men are three times more likely than circumcised men to be carrying the human papillomavirus ... and that antibodies against Chlamydia infection are twice as common in women with uncircumcised male partners."

He writes that "the ideal time for circumcision is when a child is first born. Newborns are extremely resilient and are programmed for stress, having just experienced the trauma of birth ..." and "local anesthesia should always be used." At older ages circumcision is "riskier, more complicated, and about 10 times more expensive."

"It is time for the medical establishment to recognize the compelling evidence favouring newborn circumcision and catch up to the public," Schoen writes, adding that 80 percent of American males are circumcised.

---

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com