Decline in circumcisions costing health care system billions, study finds

Article here. Excerpt:

'"The economic evidence is backing up what we already know medically," said Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Hopkins health epidemiologist and pathologist and senior researcher on the study.

The findings are the latest in a continuing debate over the health benefits of a procedure that was once common practice in the United States — and comes as the Academy of American Pediatrics prepares to announce updated guidelines on male circumcision next week.

Circumcision became controversial in the 1970s when the rate of procedures began to decline. Today, about 55 percent of the 2 million baby boys born each year are circumcised, compared with a peak of 79 percent in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Academy of American Pediatrics, which advises doctors on medical procedures, has taken a neutral stance on the issue for years. It last updated its position in 2005, reaffirming a stance from 1999 that there wasn't enough scientific evidence to show medical benefit to recommend circumcision.

Studies have long shown that when babies are not circumcised, where the foreskin on the tip of the penis is removed, they are at risk for health problems in the long run. Bacteria and viruses can get trapped in the extra layers of skin left on the penis.'