By Mitchel L. ZolerHERE to read the entire test on Gloria Lemays blog
Elsevier Global Medical News
http://www.imng.com
Breaking News
VIENNA (EGMN) - Circumcision rates for newborn boys in the United States
dropped steadily and markedly over the past 4 years, based on the largest
review of U.S. rates ever done.
Circumcision rates fell from 56% in 2006 to 33% in 2009.
The review, which included more than 6.5 million U.S. newborn boys during
the period, also showed that adverse event rates following newborn male
circumcision were “extremely low,” and that the most common adverse events
were “mild and easily corrected,” Charbel El Bcheraoui, Ph.D., said at the
18th International AIDS Conference.
“Severe male circumcision-related adverse events are extremely rare,” said
Dr. El Bcheraoui, an epidemic intelligence service officer in the division
of HIV/AIDS prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The dramatic decline in circumcision rates during 2006-2009 continued a
trend that began in the United States earlier in the decade, although the
fall appeared to accelerate recently, he said. He attributed the drop to a
1999 statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics that said existing data
were not sufficient to recommend routine newborn male circumcision
(Pediatrics 1999;103:686-93).
Another factor may be that following the AAP statement, several states
withdrew Medicaid coverage of newborn male circumcision, Dr. El Bcheraoui
said. An earlier report by him and his CDC associates documented that during
1979-2006, the U.S. newborn male circumcision rate was relatively stable,
with an average rate of 61%....
I know that most of us will be appalled with the pro-cutting angle of this article, but as intactivists we need to at least take comfort that our words and actions (and soap boxing, lol) are having an effect: the numbers of baby boys that are suffering this mutilation in the States IS falling. We have to persevere and keep speaking out LOUDLY and STRONGLY!!!
