March 13, 2013
Pediatricians should revisit their circumcision policy
by Christopher L. Guest Co-Founder, Children's Health and Human Rights Partnership
Re: Pediatricians update circumcision policy; new statement from Canadian doctors offers parents a more neutral position on loaded issue, March 4
Most physicians are sadly ignorant of the sexual and mechanical function of the human prepuce.
The prepuce is richly innervated, erogenous tissue, containing thousands of sensory neuroreceptors such as Meissner's corpuscles. Many of the most sensitive regions of the penis are located along the inner prepuce and are needlessly amputated by circumcision.
The prepuce also acts as a linear bearing mechanism, providing a unique gliding motion during sexual intercourse.
Removing healthy, functional genital tissue from powerless infants is medically unethical and Canadian physicians should refuse to participate in this disgraceful practice. Parental preferences and cultural traditions should never trump contemporary medical ethics and the fundamental human right to bodily integrity.
When will the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) recognize that the boy is the patient, not the parents? Let him decide for himself, when he is older, and able to consent.
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