News

Circumcisions Should be Offered like Vaccines, Study States

By Cheri Cheng | Update Date: Apr 05, 2014 11:20 AM EDT

Within the United States, circumcision rates have fallen from 83 percent in the 1860s to 77 percent today. Even though circumcisions are not required, a professor argued that circumcisions should be offered to newborn boys in the same way that vaccines are. The academic, Brian Morris, stated that the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks by 100 to one.

Morris, who is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, reported that over the lifetime of uncircumcised men, roughly 50 percent of them will get an adverse medical condition relate to their foreskin, which is the portion that gets snipped during a circumcision. He added that during infancy, the best form of protection against urinary tract infections (UTIs), which can lead to kidney damage, is being circumcised.

"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," Morris said according to the Dailymail. "Delay puts the child's health at risk and will usually mean it will never happen."

Morris added, "Taken together, the new findings should send a strong message to medical practitioners, professional bodies, educators, policy makers, governments, and insurers to promote this safe, simple procedure, best done in infancy under local anesthesia and to increase access and third party coverage, especially for poor families, who tend to suffer most from foreskin-related diseases."

The study was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

© 2023 Counsel & Heal All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics