Denmark: Study correlates circumcision in young boys with chance of autism development

Story here. Excerpt:

'Circumcision before the age of five can double a boy’s risk of developing autism, controversial research suggests.

Scientists believe the finding may be linked to stress caused by the pain of the procedure.

The study of more than 340,000 boys in Denmark found that circumcision raised the overall chances of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) before the age of 10 by 46%.

But if circumcision took place before the age of five it doubled the risk.
...
Professor David Katz, from University College London, who chairs Milah UK, a body that speaks for the Jewish community on issues related to circumcision, said: “This report is far from convincing: correlation does not equal causation.

“There is a long history of attempts to link autistic spectrum disorders to unrelated practices, such as the measles/mumps/rubella association, which proved to be fraudulent.

“There is general agreement that in people suffering from an ASD there are abnormalities that can be identified in brain structure and/or function. There is a strong genetic component, which may be a factor within the faith communities studied here, and which does not appear to have been explored amongst them.'

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I may support the notion intuitively that circ. does bad things to boys' development, but Katz is correct that correlation doesn't entail causation. The study's fine but like a strange shoe-print found outside the window of a murdered person's home, it's only cause for investigation, not in and of itself conclusive evidence.

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Correlation does not equal causation. I just wish that people would keep that in mind when being told that "circumcision reduces the risk of penile cancer". They never seem to think that men of higher socioeconomic classes are both: likelier to be circumcised, and have access to quality health care services. It seems to me the latter of the two would be the likelier cause of the reduction in developing cancer. In fact, Denmark's statistics strongly suggest that this is the case. In that nation, less than 1 percent of males are circumcised, yet their instances of penile cancer are lower per capita than in North America. Hmmm. . .

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