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I was sitting with a group of my mates after watching a football game and as is usual the converstaion dwelled into the realm of the absurd. This time around it was male circumcision. I have always agreed with the practise not only from a theological perspective but also because I think it has some health benefits. One of my mates said I was plain wrong,. I stumbled across this article on the Independent. Here is a bit of it:
Now that cosy consensus has been challenged by the emergence of evidence showing that the removal of the foreskin can prevent a number of sexually transmitted diseases. Three landmark randomised controlled trials conducted in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda between 2005 and 2007 demonstrated that adult male circumcision reduced the risk of contracting HIV by 50 to 60 per cent. This is well known and has led to the development of programmes offering circumcision in a number of African countries, backed by the World Health Organisation, with predictions that in the long term it could save millions of lives.
Now new evidence has emerged for the protective effect of circumcision against infection with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the chief cause of cervical cancer in women, which is reduced by 35 per cent, and against Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), the cause of herpes, which is reduced by 25 per cent. Circumcision probably also protects against syphilis, but the findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March, were based on too small a sample to be conclusive.
Both HPV and HSV are global health problems that far outstrip HIV in frequency, causing substantial death and suffering. Cervical cancer is responsible for thousands of deaths in western countries (and millions in the developing world). Herpes is seldom fatal, but it causes significant illness and costs millions of pounds to treat.
An editorial in the NEJM said that the findings were "a call to action for professional societies" to review the advice they give on circumcision. Two countries – the US and Australia – have already heeded the call. The American Academy of Paediatrics has established a taskforce to examine its policy on circumcision and a similar review is under way in Australia.
Click to read full article by Jeremy Laurance in the Independent.
I think you're buying my next dinner mate. I win. Match. Set. Point. What do you guys think?