Call to Action: Help stop circumcision at Darwin GP Super Clinic - Deadline 15 Feb 2011

Please download the document from the following link and type your name, title and e-mail address in the allocated spaces on the covering letter and e-mail to gpsuperclinics@health.gov.au with the subject line 'GP Super Clinics Consultation Registration Form' (before Tuesday 15 February 2011 0730 GMT):

http://rapidshare.com/files/447000283/Darwin_15February2011_.doc

Please leave a reply so that I can gauge the number of submissions made.

The submission reads:

'I am writing to ask you to protect boys from the harmful practice of male genital mutilation, also known as circumcision. As you may already know, circumcision removes the most sexually sensitive parts of a boy’s penis, including the foreskin, the frenulum, and the ridged band of nerves [1].

The male foreskin is also designed to protect the glans of the penis throughout a man’s life, ensuring that the internal mucosal tissue remains moist and sensitive (much the same way that a woman’s clitoral hood protects the clitoris). In addition, the foreskin acts as a natural gliding mechanism to reduce chafing and dryness during intercourse [2].

Although girls have been legally protected from all forms of genital cutting since the 1990s, nearly 15% of boys in Australia are still circumcised without their consent [3].

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians [4] advises against routine male circumcision, and no national medical association in the world recommends that boys be forcefully circumcised for preventive health reasons.

Recently you may have heard about several African studies which purport to show a link between male circumcision and reduced transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus, the methodology and conclusions of which have been seriously questioned within the academic literature [5]. While adults are certainly free to choose this elective surgery if they feel it will make them safer (after being fully informed of the risks and consequences), that does not mean that healthy normal infants and children should be forced to undergo circumcision simply because it might offer some possible medical benefit in the future.

By the same token, minors should not be forcefully circumcised to satisfy the religious, cultural, or cosmetic preferences of their parents.

I watch with great sadness as this mutilating procedure continues to be forced upon helpless male victims. With all that we now know about the harm that male circumcision causes, why do we let it continue? Why are girls protected from this practice but not boys?

For the sake of men’s sexual health, human rights, and citizen equality, I urge you to take a stand against male genital mutilation.

Please mandate that GP Super Clinics:

• Must not offer among their services the harmful male genital mutilation known as circumcision;
• Must not permit on their premises individuals or organisations promoting the harmful male genital mutilation known as circumcision;
• Must not allow their facilities to be used for the harmful male genital mutilation known as circumcision.; and
• Must not stock or allow on their premises literature or other material promoting the harmful male genital mutilation known as circumcision.

References

1. Morris L. Sorrells, James L. Snyder, Mark D. Reiss, Christopher Eden, Marilyn F. Milos, Norma Wilcox, Robert S. Van Howe Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis British Journal of Urology International, Volume 99 Issue 4 Page 864 – 869 April 2007 http://www.nocirc.org/touch-test/bju_6685.pdf

2. Taylor, J.P., A.P. Lockwood and A.J.Taylor The prepuce: Specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision Journal of Urology (1996), 77, 291-295 http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/

3. Medicare Australia https://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/statistics/mbs_item.shtml

4. http://www.racp.edu.au/index.cfm?objectid=65118B16-F145-8B74-236C86100E4E3E8E

5. Lawrence W Green, Ryan G McAllister, Kent W Peterson & John W Travis Male circumcision is not the HIV ‘vaccine’ we have been waiting for! Future HIV Therapy May 2008, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 193-199 http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/full/10.2217/17469600.2.3.193