CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 3:22

CIRCUMCISION INFORMATION NETWORK
Volume 3, Number 22, 4 June 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.

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION
Last week's "Stupid Quote of the Week" was contributed by donmorgan@nas.com
(Don Morgan) and read "Circumcision never did ME any harm, " supposedly
stated by Hymie Goldberg, inventor of KY Jelly and taken on 17 May 1996 from
CIRquote.  The editor of CIN failed to note that this was originally
presented as "for the humor impaired," and that it was nothing more than
humor.  It was a friend of Don's who made it up.  CIN regrets having reported
this quote as fact without questioning it.

"STAND FOR CHILDREN" RALLY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Contributed by albfie@p3.net (Al Fields).
We non-circumcision advocates arrived at Constitution and 23rd and set up a
large display board of literature from NOCIRC and NOHARMM.  We were located
on the main route from the from the Metro to the rally.  Countless people
stopped at looked, and many took literature.  Several hundred pieces of
literature were taken or handed out.

Several times during the afternoon Hispanics stopped, smiled and commented
'that was something they didn't do.'

A young woman carrying an infant on her back, who had lived in Denmark for
several years, stopped to tell us her son was intact, but he had been born in
America and she had to insist he be left alone.

A young woman whose brother was intact stopped to tell us her brother had
considered circumcision, group dynamics...most of his college classmates
were.  He had gone to a urologist for the surgery, the urologist had marked
the circle (line) to be cut, he realized what he was about to loose and left
before the urologist could do the surgery.

Of the hundreds of pieces of literature, most were taken by women.

Of the thousands of people who walked past the display, there were absolutely
no bad comments, nor was there even a single time when anyone was 'ill at
ease'.

For those of us present this was a very positive and rewarding experience.

CIRCUMCISION IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
(Title of Letters sub section), New York Times, Letters to the Editor
Section, Saturday, 25 May 1996
Contributed by BarryBE@aol.com

To the Editor:
Re "The Unkindest Cut? How Circumcision Came Full Circle" (Week in Review,
May 19):  There are millions of species of mammals, reptiles and birds.  All
-- male and female -- have a foreskin, or prepuce.  What Dr. Edgar Schoen,
chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' 1989 task force on
circumcision, and others would have you believe is that out of all those
species, only one -- the North American male human -- needs to undergo
amputative surgery to be healthy and clean.

In my opinion, circumcision is not a medical issue; it is a human rights
issue.

Rich Angell, Palo Alto, Calif.

Note:  This letter was read by Dr. Dean Edell on his nationally syndicated
radio program.

GHASTLY INTERNET PHOTOS AVAILABLE
Contributed by ralexand@epix.net (Ronald D. Alexander).

Just finished looking -- aghast -- at photos of the procedures involved in
performing a circumcision and the fine detailing -- in ghastly color -- a
botched operation.  Cannot forget them.  My God, what we do to our flesh and
blood whom we say we love!  If that's the way we treat our loved ones, it
doesn't surprise me how we commit atrocities on our enemies.  Especially
gruesome was the picture of the forceps being used to tear away the flesh
from the head of the penis.  I will think of this the next time I rip off the
skin from a chicken breast prior to cooking, only the chicken is dead and
cannot feel the pain.  This is an outrage.   If caring parents could be shown
this procedure before it is committed on their sons, they might opt to
abandon it.  CAUTION:  This is strong stuff!  

http://www.cirp.org/CIRP/library/procedure/plastibell
http://www.chmc.org/departmt/surgery/exstroph/fourn.htm

"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)
Ninth of a nine-part series.

Conclusion:
Circumcision always poses serious life-threatening and lifelong health risks
for males.  The foreskin is a normal and functional body part.  The foreskin
requires no special care and should be left alone.  The physician today has a
duty to discourage circumcision and to refuse to perform it.

Physicians today have a unique historic opportunity to correct the mistakes
of the past by realigning medical practice with ethics and the principles of
human rights.  Every individual has the right to the body he or she was born
with.  Physicians have a right to protect this right and to uphold the first
tenet of the Hippocratic oath "First, DO No Harm."

          Townsend Letter For Doctors and Patients
          911 Tyler Street
          Port Townsend, WA  98368-6541
          Tel: (360) 385-6021
          Fax (360) 385-0699

STUPID QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I do 30 to 40 circumcisions a year, and if I saw any indication that it was
torture I wouldn't do it.  After all, I'm not aware of any medical benefit."
Sarina Schrager, a family practitioner in Berwyn, Illinois, as quoted in The
Wall Street Journal, "Anxious Parents Question Merits Of Circumcision," 28
May 1996.

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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