IRELAND: Circumcision "unnecessary" - surgeon

Irish Health (registration required)
May 24, 2012

Male circumcision unnecessary - surgeon

Routine circumcision in male infants is a potentially dangerous and unnecessary procedure, according to a Dublin surgeon, ...

Dublin consultant plastic surgeon Mr Matt McHugh said circumcision was a form of genital mutilation that exposed patients to a number of health risks.

However, a representative of the Jewish community in Ireland has defended ...

Writing in the latest issue of Modern Medicine, the Irish journal of clinical medicine, Mr McHugh said: "There is no rationale for carrying out this extremely painful, traumatic and potentially dangerous procedure on male infants.

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Mr McHugh said the reasons put forward for circumcision are "unproven and have no scientific basis of fact". In cases of clinically significant and persistent ‘phimosis' - a condition where the foreskin cannot be fully retracted, and the most common indication for non-religious circumcision - simple measures can be taken to correct the problem.

There is a common belief that the circumcised man runs a lessened risk of venereal infection, particularly AIDS and syphilis, but there are few figures to support this, Mr McHugh said.

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However Rabbi Zalman Lent, of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, said that circumcision was safe when performed correctly ["When performed correctly" Aye, there's the rub.]
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