Circumcising all baby boys could cut the rate of sexually transmitted diseases by about half, a Christchurch researcher says.
David Fergusson of Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, says he found "substantial benefits" from giving boys the snip - removing their foreskins.
His study, published in the
international scientific journal Pediatrics, followed 510 New Zealand males between birth and age 25.
It found that even after accounting for other factors linked to venereal disease - number of sexual partners, unprotected sex and family background - circumcised youths were far less likely to become infected.
Ten to 20 per cent of New Zealand boys are circumcised. This is one of the lowest rates in the world, but the practice is still the norm in Samoan, Tongan, Jewish and Muslim families.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians said in 2004 there was no medical reason for routine circumcision of newborn boys.
In the United States, the circumcision rate has been falling since 1999, when the American Academy of Pediatrics began opposing the practice.
But the Christchurch study has persuaded some American child health specialists to reconsider the evidence.
"People feel passionate on both sides, but I'm going to recommend that we take another careful look at this," said academy president Jay Berkelhamer, who is also a a professor of paediatrics at the University of Florida.
One convert is California paediatrician Edgar Schoen, who says the academy's opposition is irresponsible.
"The benefits of circumcision far outweigh risks, and doctors should be telling parents that," he said.
Some American consumer groups think the pediatricians should stick with the policy or make it even tougher. "Even if it does bring down sexually transmitted disease, cutting normal tissue of an unconsenting minor is a human rights violation," said Marilyn Milos of lobby group NoCirc.
- NZPA
