“While a handful of American and Canadian circumcision advocates have gotten recent media attention by promoting circumcision to prevent cervical cancer or HIV, this new statement takes into account all recent studies and declares there is no reason to circumcise,” said Marilyn Milos, RN, director of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC). “It is increasingly obvious that a medical fringe element is working to promote circumcision for no other reason than boosting their careers or their pocketbooks. What is abhorrent to me is that reasonable people are taking harmful advice.”

"Physicians have known for years that neither male nor female circumcision could be justified on medical grounds. In both cases it is done for social reasons, not medical need," stated Dr. George Denniston, MD, MPH, president of Doctors Opposing Circumcision. "In the United States, we no longer circumcise girls, but boys are still unprotected. Perhaps other countries will have to take the lead away from this outmoded, harmful practice.

Milos said, “When there is no evidence that potential benefits exceed the known risks and harm of an operation, good medical practice dictates that the operation not be done. The RACP statement says there are no medical indications for circumcision. Therefore, any continued practice of routinely circumcising baby boys is not only medically unnecessary, but also unethical and, perhaps, criminal.”

The policy statement was adopted by six other Australian and New Zealand medical organizations, including the Australasian Association of Paediatric Surgeons, New Zealand Society of Paediatric Surgeons, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and Urological Society of Australasia. The new policy statement observed there have been increasing claims over recent years of health benefits from routine male circumcision at a time when the rest of the western world was eliminating the procedure. The most egregious of these claims are urinary tract infections, HIV, and penile cancer. This thorough review of all literature showed these claims cannot be medically substantiated.

The RACP statement says, “The complication rate of neonatal circumcision is reported to be around 1% to 5% and includes local infection, bleeding, and damage to the penis. Serious complications such as bleeding, septicemia, and meningitis may occasionally cause death.”

NOCIRC claims the complication rate is one hundred percent, calling it ‘male genital mutilation’ because the boy is denied a fully functioning penis.

Other national medical associations, including the American Cancer Society, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics, also have circumcision policy statements that find there is no medical justification for routine infant circumcision. Irresponsibly, they leave the decision to parents who are often misinformed. In the United States, infant circumcision is the only surgery prescribed by parents.

The American medical associations did not reply when invited to comment on the RACP’s new policy statement.

“Parents must be informed they are mutilating their sons,” said Fleiss, “and that they are not preventing or treating any disease by having the foreskin removed in the first few days of life. The foreskin is necessary for full sexual enjoyment and helps protect this vital purpose throughout life. It should be left alone. Babies have a need to be loved and protected, and I look forward to the day when the agonizing cry of a newborn male being circumcised is no longer heard anywhere in the USA.” The male circumcision rate in the USA is under 60%, down from a high of 85% in 1979. Most European, Asian, and Latin American countries have a near zero circumcision rate. Female circumcision has been outlawed in the western world since at least 1996.