MANN admins received the following from a reader and M.D. involved in the study of the practice and effects of circumcision:
The recent publication of an extraordinary association between country-level rates of circumcision with their respective country-level rates of autism (r=0.98, p<0.000005) [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23656698] explains the recent observation of less than expected rate of autism prevalence in Spain where an equal male to female autism prevalence was also observed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23746744) as Spain (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16177149) and Hispanics in the U.S. have the lowest circumcision rates (2% in Spain) while Hispanics in U.S. also have a less than expected autism prevalence (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20019320).
Furthermore, recent reports from Israel and Kenya/Uganda indicate lack of effectiveness of circumcision in reducing heterosexual HIV/AIDS transmission: Coutinho in Uganda has pointed out based on rising HIV/AIDS rates the lack of effectiveness of circumcision in reducing female to male HIV transmission based on both failure to achieve the 60% relative risk reduction of the published studies with the expected absolute risk reduction being only 0.8-1.8% at best (http://www.independent.co.ug/news/news-analysis/6402-experts-divided-over-hiv-strategy) and the reported increased risk of male to female HIV transmission posed by circumcised males in Uganda (Wawer: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60998-3/abstract) as heterosexually transmitted HIV infection rates significantly rise in Israel (http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/new-cases-of-hiv-in-israel-hit-record-high-in-2012.premium-1.528780) and circumcision fails to reduce HIV rates in Kenya (http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000093293&story_title=push-for-male-circumcision-in-nyanza-fails-to-reduce-infections).
These results have led the United States Preventative Services Task Force to recommend “treatment as prevention” using antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS prevention, not circumcision (http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspshivi.htm) in the U.S.
Parents need to be afforded fully informed consent to act in the best interest of their children. Unfortunately when there is suppression/omission of circumcision adverse event data, fully informed consent cannot be given. (http://www.examiner.com/article/circumcision-adverse-event-data-missing-from-study-suppression-alleged)
The epidemiological studies to address whether circumcision is a risk factor for Autism Spectrum Disorders and Chronic Pelvic Pain and its serious comorbidities (including erectile dysfunction, increased lifetime risk of cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric diseases) [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16104910 ; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2005.05684.x/abstract] are straightforward, if not omitted/suppressed by NIH due to conflicts of interests. Ongoing professional/institutional competing public health-economic interests exist, and circumcision will stay touted as the recommended low cost HIV/AIDS “preventative” (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/12/05/1209017110), as long as circumcision adverse event data/lack of HIV/AIDS effectiveness data are suppressed/ignored.
