CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 3:17

CIRCUMCISION INFORMATION NETWORK
Volume 3, Number 17, 29 April 1996
E-mail:  CircInfoNe@aol.com

The purpose of this weekly 1000-word bulletin is to educate the public about
and to protect children and other non-consenting persons from genital
mutilation.  Readers are encouraged to copy and redistribute it, and to
contribute written material.  --Rich Angell, Editor.

KASINGA FREED
Contributed by BarryBE@aol.com (Barry Ellsworth).
New York Times, 25 April 1996, Page A1 (Front Page):  "US Frees Asylum Seeker
Who Fled Ritual Mutilation:  Released after more than a Year of Confinement."
By CELIA W. DUGGER 
c.1996 N.Y. Times News Service 
Edited for brevity.

Fauziya Kasinga, who sought sanctuary in the United States in 1994, saying
she was escaping her African tribe's custom of cutting off the genitals of
young women, was released by federal immigration authorities Wednesday after
more than a year of sometimes harsh confinement in a detention center in New
Jersey and prisons in Pennsylvania.

Immigration officials said they decided to free Ms. Kasinga, 19, of Togo,
because she has developed strong ties in recent months to religious and human
rights groups who have promised to support her and insure she shows up for
legal hearings.  The officials phoned her lawyers Wednesday with the decision
and then told Ms. Kasinga. 

Her case, scheduled to be heard May 2 by the highest administrative tribunal
in the immigration system, is expected to set a precedent that will influence
the treatment of other women who say they are fleeing genital mutilation, a
common rite in 26 African nations.

Officials said the case might not be resolved for a year, and the limited
detention space could better be used for others facing speedy deportation.

But Ms. Kasinga's lawyer, Karen Musalo, said she believes the Immigration and
Naturalization Service let her client go only after an April 15 article in
The New York Times detailing the case and the conditions of her detention led
to a public outcry, a barrage of news accounts and the promise of continuing
protests by an array of advocacy groups.

"When their decision to detain her saw the light of day, there was an
outpouring of concern and shock from the public," said Ms. Musalo, acting
director of the International Human Rights Clinic at American University,
Washington College of Law.  "I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon -- we're
extremely pleased -- but we hope it doesn't take this kind of outcry for
justice to be done for other asylum seekers who are being detained."

Immigration officials said publicity about the case did not influence the
decision to release Ms. Kasinga.  David Martin, general counsel for the
Immigration Service, said Ms. Kasinga's lawyer had within the last week
informed the agency that a Bahai family had agreed to take her in during the
appeals process, giving her roots in the Bahai community and a way for
immigration officials to keep tabs on her.

This decision was made by headquarters in consultation with the district
director and he does concur with it, said Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for
the Justice Department, which operates the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.

Ms. Musalo and several law students who have worked on Ms. Kasinga's case and
talked to her daily over the last six months picked her up at the York County
Prison in York, Pa., Wednesday.

"THE FORESKIN IS NECESSARY"
An article by Paul M. Fleiss. MD, MPH, and Frederick Hodges
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April 1996.
Contributed by typist DYKS96A@prodigy.com ( GEORGE HILL)
Fifth of a multi-part series.

Continuing about the harm of circumcision:

Harm to the Immune System:
The mucous membranes which line all body orifices are the first line of
immunological defense.  The glands in the foreskin which secrete antiviral
and antibacterial chemicals are destroyed.  The destruction of the mucous
membranes of the penis weakens the body's immune response.  Rigorously
controlled studies demonstrate that circumcised men are more at risk for
gonorrhea,(14) human papilloma virus (HPV),(15) and herpes simplex virus type
2.(16)  Otherwise studies show no difference in the rates of all other common
STDs between men whose penises have been circumcised and those whose penises
are still as Nature intended them.  The authors of those studies conclude
that the presence of the foreskin may confer protection to the penis from STD
infection.

Recent studies have disproved the myth that the foreskin causes penile
cancer.  Maden and associates reported penile cancer among 20% of elderly
neonatally circumcised patients from rural areas at a time when the
circumcision rate was approximately 20% for rural populations.(17)  This
study also demonstrates that the rate of penile cancer among neonatally
circumcised males has risen in the U. S. relative to the rise in the rate of
neonatal circumcision.  Frisch and associates found a rapidly falling rate of
penile cancer, presently estimated at 0.82 per 100,000 in Denmark (a
circumcision free nation).(18)  The U. S. has a higher rate of 1 per
100,000.(19)  On the basis of the evidence, one could conjecture that the
foreskin confers protection against penile cancer.

The histological changes that occur to the remaining portions of the penis
after circumcision may be responsible for a weakened immune response to
bacterial and viral invasion.  After circumcision the mucous membrane of the
glans and remaining preputual stump (if present) dry up, toughen and
keratinize, taking on an unhealthy sclerotic appearance.   Scerotic
keratinized tissue is the least resistant to infection and trauma.  The
cracks and lesions that occur in non-elastic sclerotic tissue provide an easy
entry point for microbial invasion.  It is important to note that the United
States has both the greatest number of circumcised sexually active adults in
the Western world and the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases
including HIV/AIDS.

Harm to the Body:
Circumcision surgery has a complication rate of 1 in 500(20) and a reported
death rate of 1 in 500,000.(21)  The potential for surgical complications to
be tragic and irreparable is high.(22)  The infliction of such a high
surgical risk for non-therapeutic reasons is unethical since the individual
who must live with the consequences of non-therapeutic amputative surgery has
not consented to its performance.

References:
14. Donovan B. Bassett I.  Bodsworth NJ.  Male circumcision and common
sexually transmissible diseases in a developed nation setting.
 "Genitourinary Medicine" 1994; 70:317-320.

15. Cook LS, Koutsky LA, Holmes KK, Clinical presentation of genital warts
among circumcised and uncircumcised heterosexual men attending an urban STD
clinic.  Genitourinary Medicine 1993 69:262-264.

16. Bassett I, Donovan B. Bodsworth NJ. et al. Herpes Simplex virus type 2
infection of heterosexual men attending a sexual health centre. Medical
Journal of Australia 1994; 160:697-700.

17. Maden C, Sherman KJ, Beckman AM, Hislop TG, Teh CZ, Ashley RL.  History
of circumcision, medical conditions, and sexual activity and risk of penile
cancer.  Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1993; 85:19-24.

18. Frisch M, Frila S, Kjaer SK, Melbye M. Falling incidence of penis cancer
in an uncircumcised population. BMJ 1995; 311:1471.

19. Cutler SJ, Young JL Jr.  Third National Cancer Survey: incidence Data,
National Cancer Institute Monograph 41; Bethesda, Maryland, US Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service 1975.

20. Gee WF, Ansell JS, Neonatal Circumcision: a ten year overview. Pediatrics
1976  58:824-827.

21. Thompson RS. Routine circumcision in the newborn: an opposing view.
 Journal of Family Practice 1990; 31:159-196.

22. Gearhardt JP. Complications of Pediatric Circumcision.  Urologic
Complications: Medical and Surgical, Adult and Pediatric. ed. Fray R.
Marshal. Chicago: Yearbook Medical Publishers. 1986.

STUPID QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"...[circumcision causes the baby] little, if any, pain, since the pain fiber
tracts are not yet fully developed..."  (Neonatal Circumcision *Is*
Necessary, [pamphlet] by Gerald N. Weiss, MD.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION call NOCIRC, the National Organization of
Circumcision Information Resource Centers at (415) 488-9883, fax (415)
488-9660.  Ask about the resource provider nearest you.  For written
information, write NOCIRC, PO Box 2512, San Anselmo, CA 94979, with SASE
and/or donation if possible.  For further internet information, contact the
Doctors Opposing Circumcision Web site at
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~gcd/DOC.
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