AAP'S NEW TASK FORCE ON CIRCUMCISION TO
RECEIVE INFORMATION FROM NOCIRC
SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA -- The National Organization of Circumcision
Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC) is sending more than seven pounds
of medical literature for consideration by the new American Academy
of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision, which is now being convened.
"In order to prepare for the Task Force, the AAP is in the process
of obtaining copies of other national and foreign medical association's
position paper on circumcision," said Edward Zimmerman, Director, Division
of Physician Payment Systems and principal staff to the Task Force.
He asked NOCIRC for a copy of the new Australian College of Pediatrics'
policy report on circumcision and invited NOCIRC to send "other materials
you believe may be of interest to the Task Force...because a few pediatricians
have recommended that the agenda book include articles and policy reports
from a variety of resources."
Along with the policy report of the Australian College of Pediatrics,
NOCIRC sent studies that were either overlooked by the Task Force Committee
members in 1989 or have been published since that time. Of special importance
are the articles on the anatomy and physiology of the foreskin, the
most recent of which was published earlier this year by the British
Journal of Urology.
The AAP is aware that it is being watched from outside the Academy,
probably a reflection of the distrust caused when a procircumcision
activist headed the 1989 Task Force Committee, leaving the Academy in
an embarrassed, compromised position and babies still at risk of contraindicated
genital cutting.
NOCIRC has urged the Academy to move from the endless controversy
about an anachronistic practice that has no place in a civilized society
to the education of its pediatricians who do not know how to care for
an intact penis and are harming our male babies and children.
Many parents of intact sons have educated themselves about the normal
structure, functions, development and care of the intact penis, and
often know more about the subject than their son's pediatrician. NOCIRC
has asked the Academy to educate pediatrician's, teaching them what
should have been taught in medical school.
A growing number of health-care professionals, lawyers, ethicists,
parents, and concerned individuals is counting on the American Academy
of Pediatrics to take a leadership role. We expect this professional
organization that is concerned with the health of infants and children
to reveal the harm of genital cutting and to protect every child's birthright
to keep his or her sex organs intact.
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