FLORIDA: Mother & Toddler Go Into Hiding Over Child's Court-Ordered Circumcision

From the West Palm Beach ABC affiliate:

A judge has ordered the arrest of a local mother who has refused a court order to have her son circumcised. Heather Hironimus was supposed to turn over her 4-year-old son Chase and appear before a judge by 2 p.m. Tuesday. When Hironimus was a no-show, the judge signed a writ of bodily attachment which allows law enforcement to find and bring her to court. Hiroimus's attorney said Tuesday that Chase was "terrified" to undergo the procedure and Hironimus checked into an undisclosed domestic violence crisis shelter to protect him. Due to privacy laws, attorneys did not have to disclose the location of the shelter to the judge or law enforcement. Last month, when Chase's father won a drawn-out legal battle to have his son circumcised, Hironimus went into hiding with her son.

(Tipped by JMG reader DM)

Billboard Of The Day

The above mobile billboard began cruising the streets of Manhattan this week.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the philosophy of Anthony Losquadro, an anti-circumcision activist. Losquadro is the executive director of Intaction, an organization that has been informing the public about the harmful mental and physical effects of circumcising baby boys since 2010. On Saturday, Intaction unveiled their mobile education unit, a large truck plastered with photos of men sullenly holding their baby photos with the text “I did not consent.” Inside the truck are massive screens that play videos castigating the practice of cutting baby wieners. When I visited the truck on Saturday afternoon, it was strategically parked across from the New York Medical Center on First Avenue in Manhattan, a hospital where thousands of baby foreskins have been and will be chopped off. Intaction plans to take to the streets in their new mobile unit, traveling the Tri-State Area and stopping at college campuses and other hospitals.

The Real Reason You're Circumcised

"Intactivists" Protest At White House

Teabaggers mocked the protest on Twitter with "No Blood For Mohel!" I confess, I snickered.

VANCOUVER: Foreskin "Intactivists" To Protest TED Talk By Bill Gates

Via Vancouver 24:

Bill Gates is the most highly anticipated speaker at the TED Talks in Vancouver on Tuesday – but the Microsoft founder's philanthropic work is being protested by “pro-foreskin” activists. The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project has criticized a program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which it said granted more than $160 million for 14 African countries' HIV/AIDS prevention programs encouraging male circumcision. “Circumcision does not prevent HIV,” said group founder Glen Callender. “Bill Gates means well, there certainly are things he's doing that I fully support, but I do not agree that circumcision is a valid or reasonable approach for 21st-century AIDS prevention.” He argued circumcision can create scar tissue and remove many sensory nerves in the penis. For University of B.C. Medicine's Dr. Richard Lester, the evidence linking HIV and circumcision is nearly unanimous – “as clear as you really can get in medical research,” the division of infectious diseases researcher said.

The group's website is here.

RELATED: Circumcision for HIV prevention has been praised by Hillary Clinton. Bill Gates has donated more than $25M to the Clinton Foundation, which works on HIV/AIDS causes in Africa, among other projects. In 2012 the American Academy of Pediatrics shifted its position on circumcision, saying that "the medical benefits outweigh the small risk for baby boys." Also in 2012, a study by Johns Hopkins University declared that the declining US rate of circumcision would ultimately result in a higher incidence of STDs. That study was denounced by intactivists.

Headline Of The Day

Details.

RWANDA: Gov't Pushes "Surgeon-Free" Male Circumcision For HIV Prevention

Rwanda's Ministry of Health is promoting a male circumcision device that does not require a doctor as part of its HIV prevention program. A nation of 11.5 million, Rwanda has fewer than 600 doctors.

A device called a PrePex was recently cleared for use. It will enable up to 700,000 men between the ages of 15 and 49 to be circumcised across the country. The device could revolutionize the way traditional circumcisions are perceived and performed. It will also save lives. Six years ago, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS set a goal to have 20 million adult men voluntarily circumcised by the year 2015. It was part of an effort to reduce heterosexually acquired HIV/AIDS. The goal was based on clinical research that showed that an estimated 3.5 million lives would be saved, along with a savings of $16.5 million in long-term healthcare costs. To reach the target, a scaling-up process was needed.

The procedure is described as similar to removing the umbilical cord from an infant.

“If you recall, you clamped the umbilical cord and you stopped the flow of blood and oxygen to the unwanted tissue. So, that’s exactly what we’re doing to the unwanted foreskin tissue. So by applying radial elastic pressure, for a very special elastic ring, on top of a rigid inner-ring that goes under the foreskin, we’re essentially stopping the flow of blood and circulation to the unwanted foreskin tissue.” The tissue dies within a few hours and in a week it dries up. She said it can be removed like you’re going to cut your finger nails.

The device is worn for six to seven days before the foreskin can be removed. (Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

CANADA: Circumcision Opponents To Protest Appearances By Oprah Winfrey

Canadian anti-circumcision activists say they will protest outside several  appearances by Oprah Winfrey because she has endorsed a skincare line that uses human cells harvested from foreskins. Via the Jewish Press:

“How would Oprah respond if a skin cream for men hit the market that was made using cells from the genitalia of little girls? I think she would be absolutely disgusted and appalled, and rightly so. So it’s crazy that she’s doing the opposite,” the group’s founder Glen Callender told the Toronto Star. “We think it’s extremely hypocritical and distasteful that Oprah Winfrey — who is herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and an outspoken opponent of female genital mutilation — at the same time uses and promotes a product that wouldn’t exist if not for the forcible genital mutilation of boys.”

The founder of the skincare line says that the cells are grown from a single foreskin obtained over 20 years ago.

From the Jewish Press

This is reportedly the second such case since the NYC Department of Health last year mandated that parents give written permission for the ceremony. The mother in this case says the ritual was performed without her consent. (Via Gothamist)

NEW YORK CITY: Jewish Groups Sue Over New Circumcision Disclaimer Law

Last month the New York City Department of Health issued a new ordinance requiring parents to sign a disclaimer avowing that they are aware of the risks regarding the "snip-n-suck" circumcisions performed by some Orthodox rabbis. Yesterday Jewish groups filed suit to block the new law.

In the procedure, common among ultra-Orthodox Jews, the person performing the circumcision uses his mouth to remove blood from the incision. The oral contact, known in Hebrew as metzitzah b’peh, is considered dangerous by public health officials, because of the possibility of spreading diseases, specifically herpes. Failure to comply with the regulation could result in warnings and fines. From 2000 to 2011, 11 babies contracted herpes, most likely as a result of the practice, and two of them died, according to the city’s health department. This spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also declared that the procedure created a risk for transmission of herpes and other pathogens, and was “not safe.” In the lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, several rabbis and Jewish organizations — including Agudath Israel of America and the International Bris Association — argue that the practice has been used safely for thousands of years among Jews and that the regulations are unconstitutional.

The city says the new law is a matter of public safety.

Orthodox Rabbis Denounce New York City Rule About "Snip-N-Suck" Circumcision

After they finished approving Mayor Bloomberg's ban on big sodas, yesterday the NYC Board of Health approved a new law requiring parents to sign a consent form before Orthodox rabbis can perform the bizarre ritual known as "snip-n-suck" circumcisions. The decision came as Orthodox Jews protested outside. Gothamist reports:

"Metzitzah b’peh" is the practice of sucking the blood from a just snipped foreskin in traditional Jewish circumcisions. Most modern mohels use a sterile pipette to do so, but some Orthodox parents insist on the ancient tradition. The Board voted in favor of a mandatory written consent form being given to parents before a mohel performs direct oral suction of the infant's penis. Members acknowledged the delicateness of the "difficult legal situation"—despite there being a "very clear public necessity" to do something, they stressed the importance of respecting religious beliefs.

The consent form reads:

I understand that direct oral suction will be performed on my child and that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene advises parents that direct oral suction should not be performed because it exposes an infant to the risk of transmission of herpes simplex virus infection, which may result in brain damage or death.

The CDC reported in June that 11 NYC infant boys contracted herpes from their Orthodox rabbis in the last ten years. Two of the boys died. The rabbi in the above photo said he and his colleagues will likely ignore the new consent form.

Yet Another Circumcision News Item

I am bored to tears with the entire subject, but since about 100 of you sent this last night:

The American Academy of Pediatrics has shifted its official position on the contentious issue of infant circumcision, stating Monday that the medical benefits of the procedure for baby boys outweigh the small risks. In its first new policy statement on the issue since 1999, the academy said that circumcision reduced risks of urinary tract infections in infants and of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases later in life — and that the complications associated with the procedure were infrequent and mostly minor. But the physicians' group stopped short of recommending the sometimes controversial practice for all newborn boys, urging parents to be guided by their religious, ethical and cultural practices in addition to the science.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has about 60,000 members in North America. The group is very gay friendly and supported LGBT adoption rights for years.

RELATED: The "intactivists" are predictably outraged about the new policy.

Even as the AAP purports to find that the benefits of non-medical neonatal male circumcision outweigh its risks, not even its own Task Force can unequivocally recommend this surgery, but instead states that the health benefits are not great enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns. Instead, it focuses much of its argument on urging that health insurance plans and state Medicaid plans cover the costs of the surgery, which is currently not the case in many states. It appears that the AAP is acting more as a trade association for doctors who perform this unnecessary surgery more than 1 million times a year, instead of standing up for the human rights and bodily integrity of the only patient that counts—the baby boy.

New Study: Declining U.S. Circumcision Rate To Increase Sexual Diseases

According to a just-published Johns Hopkins University study, the declining U.S. rate of newborn circumcision will result in higher health costs for the nation when these boys become sexually active adults.

About 55 percent of the 2 million males born each year in America are circumcised, a decrease from 79 percent in the 1980s, according to the report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The procedure, which removes the foreskin from the tip of the penis where bacteria and viruses accumulate, is linked to fewer cases of HIV, herpes, genital warts and genital cancers among men and their sexual partners. “If there were a vaccine that reduced HIV infection, genital herpes and warts, penile cancer, cervical cancer and bacterial vaginosis, it would be promoted as a game changing intervention, and all physicians would encourage their patients to get it,” said Aaron Tobian, a health epidemiologist and pathologist at Johns Hopkins and senior researcher on the study.

“The difference is this is a surgery with very minor complications, and it also has a cultural tone to it.” The lack of protection may boost U.S. health-care costs by $4.4 billion if rates plunge in the next decade to levels seen in Europe, where 10 percent of boys are circumcised, according to the analysis by health economists at Johns Hopkins. Each time a circumcision is avoided, $313 is added in direct illness- related expenses, after taking into account the cost of the procedure, Tobian said in a telephone interview. “All state Medicaid and private insurers should cover male circumcision and we should eliminate all of the current barriers,” he said. “Families should discuss the risks and benefits of the procedure with their physicians and decide what is best for them.”

Medicaid coverage for circumcision has been dropped in many states and the above-linked study notes that private insurers have followed suit.

In Loving Memory

Source.

SATURDAY: Vancouver Foreskin Pride

Source.

AIDS Conference: Hillary Clinton Lauds Circumcision As HIV Preventive In Africa

In a wide-ranging AIDS Conference 2012 opening speech on numerous HIV/AIDS topics, this morning Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the campaign to circumcise adult male Africans as a preventive for HIV infection. An excerpt via White House press release:

On male circumcision, we’ve supported more than 400,000 procedures since last December alone. And I’m pleased to announce that PEPFAR will provide an additional $40 million to support South Africa’s plans to provide voluntary medical circumcisions for almost half a million boys and men in the coming year. (Applause.) You know and we want the world to know that this procedure reduces the risk of female-to-male transmission by more than 60 percent and for the rest of the man’s life, so the impact can be phenomenal.

In Kenya and Tanzania, mothers asked for circumcision campaigns during school vacations so their teenage sons could participate. In Zimbabwe, some male lawmakers wanted to show their constituents how safe and virtually painless the procedure is, so they went to a mobile clinic and got circumcised. That’s the kind of leadership we welcome. And we are also seeing the development of new tools that would allow people to perform the procedure with less training and equipment than they need today without compromising safety. And when such a device is approved by the World Health Organization, PEPFAR is ready to support it right away. [snip]

In addition, we will help many more Zambians get on treatment and support a massive scale-up of male circumcision as well, two steps that, according to our models, will drive down the number of new sexually transmitted infections there by more than 25 percent over the next 5 years. So as the number of new infections in Zambia goes down, it will be possible to treat more people than are becoming infected each year. So we will, for the first time, get ahead of the pandemic there. And eventually, an AIDS-free generation of Zambians will be in sight.

Circumcision Advocates Press To Make It A Priority In The African AIDS Battle

The International AIDS Conference will be held later this month in Washington DC and advocates of circumcision as an HIV preventive plan to pressure attendees to consider making the surgery a "priority" in the battle against AIDS in Africa. Via press release:

Voluntary medical male circumcision is one of the most effective HIV prevention tools available today. Countries where VMMC can have an impact should be acting to ensure access—and advocates should be demanding accountability,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC. “At this moment in the epidemic, there are few things that could do more to reduce the human and economic toll of HIV.When the AIDS community gathers this month in Washington, we need to refocus on this inexpensive, one-time intervention that offers men life-long partial protection against HIV.”

Research shows that VMMC could help significantly reduce heterosexual transmission of HIV in key African countries. Long-term follow-up from clinical trials conducted in Africa suggests that VMMC reduces a man’s risk of sexually acquiring HIV from an HIV-positive female partner by as much as 75 percent.Modeling research indicates that achieving 80 percent VMMC coverage among menages 15-49 in 13 key African countries by 2015 would avert up to 3.36 million newHIV infections by 2025. Meeting this target would also avert $16 billion in future direct AIDS prevention and treatment costs.

GERMANY: Jewish And Muslim Groups Urge Bill To Overturn Circumcision Ban

After a German court ruled that the circumcision of minor boys constituted "grievous bodily harm," a coalition of Jewish and Muslim groups are calling on the national legislature to pass a bill that allows the practice.

"We call on the German Bundestag (lower house) and the government to act as quickly as possible to put an end to this legal insecurity and establish legal safeguards allowing the circumcision of boys," said Gurcan Mert of the Turkish Islamic Union, speaking on behalf of the other groups. In a decision that also sparked outrage among Jewish groups and which could set a legal precedent, the regional court in this western city ruled against a doctor in Cologne who had circumcised a four-year-old Muslim boy on his parents' wishes. The judges found that the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents". "The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised," the court added.

Several German hospitals have already suspended circumcisions until its legality is made more clear.

German Court Bans Religious Circumcision: Such Surgery Constitutes Grievous Bodily Harm

A German court has outlawed circumcision for non-medical reasons.

Circumcisions of young boys on religious grounds should be considered as grievous bodily harm, a German court has said, in a landmark ruling that clears up a grey area for doctors. The regional court in Cologne, western Germany, ruled that the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents." "The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised, if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised," the court added. The case was brought against a doctor in Cologne, who had circumcised a four-year-old Muslim boy on his parents' wishes. The doctor was later charged with grievous bodily harm but acquitted by a lower court which judged he had acted within the law as the parents had given their consent.

Jewish and Muslim groups are outraged.

“The Court’s decision is unacceptable and gravely violates religious freedom,” says Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, vice president of the Rabbinical Center of Europe. “The decision is contrary to human rights charter of the European Union, to which the German legal system is committed, and undermines the basic right to worship in the German Constitution.”

RELATED: "Intactivists" in California recently failed in their attempt to pass legislation to ban circumcision in San Francisco. (Tipped by JMG reader Will)

My Eyes Ache From The Rolling

So-called "intactivists" are going to protest tonight's fundraiser for openly gay state Sen. Mark Leno because he didn't support a bill to ban circumcision in San Francisco.

UPDATE: A commenter reminds me of when I lost interest in San Francisco's bill.