Green Options

This week at the CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, the government agency will discuss whether to recommend routine circumcision for all baby boys to protect them from the disease.

Research is split on whether routinely cutting boys at birth will protect them from sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDs and HIV. Most research points to a decrease in diseases only in high-risk populations where such diseases are prevalent.

One of the groups lobbying against such a blanket recommendation is Intact America, a newly-formed group in the U.S. with the aim of lowering the circumcision rate.

But those who state simply that “circumcision prevents STDs” may need to get their facts straight.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to issue new recommendations regarding circumcision and its supposed ability to low the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

One new group hopes to have a big voice in the circumcision debate. Intact America is based in New York and backed by a pro-intact Texas millionaire.

Circumcision rates are currently at about 50 percent in the States, with rates varying dependent on region. Intactivists worry that if government officials choose to rely on select African studies, the circumcision rate will again begin to rise.

Warning! Don’t watch this video at work.  Or near your chil’ens. Or if you get queasy at the thought of gratuitous phallic imagery, nudity, or “colorful” (i.e. “sounds like Cate”) language.

That disclaimer aside, I’ve come to understand what a heady topic circumcision can be! (No, I couldn’t resist the pun! And yes, I have been reading too much Cake Wrecks.)

After I wrote my initial blog exploring reasons to leave boys intact, there was a lot of “discussion” on the topic.  People sure are passionate about foreskins!

1 million times a year, 3,000 times a day, every 26 seconds, an American boy has the tip of his penis cut off.

Sometimes, it’s better to just let the professionals do the talking.  No, I don’t mean all of those doctors I consulted before I decided to leave my sons intact.

I’m talking, of course, about Penn and Teller, who explored circumcision on one of their “BS!” series episodes.

How about finishing up this serious topic with some humor?

Decided to go au naturale, have we?

Yesterday, I posted arguments against circumcision.  If you checked out that blog, you know that this is a very, er, sensitive topic.

But you’re a natural parent.  You’ve done your research.  And you figure, “What the hey! It’s not my body. Would I want someone to make this lifetime choice for me?”

Next step: How to Care For an Intact Penis

Pencils sharpened? Here goes:

Oh, I’ve heard many reasons why we should circumcise a baby boy. Some of the popular ones are:

I want him to look like me.
He’ll be a freak in the locker room.
You have to.  Boys who aren’t circumcised are dirty.

Jennifer’s post last week, WTF? Baby Boys’ Circumcised Foreskins Used for Wrinkle Treatment made me laugh out loud.  Mostly it was her shock at upcycling foreskins.

As I commented on that blog, I’d already known they “reused” foreskins.  My sister had been involved with a skin grafting on a foot that used those circumcised scraps. If feet and penises combined for life aren’t your idea of fun, perhaps you’ve already hopped on the no-circumcise bandwagon.

Still not sure? Here are 11 Reasons to Avoid Circumcising Your Son…

Sometimes, I just can’t believe what I read…I mean, who thinks this stuff up?  Has your doctor talked to you about Vavelta yet?

Valvelta is a wrinkle treatment available in the UK that is derived from the foreskins of babies.

That’s right:  THE FORESKINS OF BABY PENISES.

At birth, we chose not to circumcise our son, but not all boys are so lucky.  What should doctors do with all those leftover foreskins from circumcisions? Treat the aging population’s wrinkles, of course!  According to Scientific American, Vavelta uses fibroblasts, cells that produce the skin-firming protein collagen and make elastin.  The source of the fibrolasts:  baby foreskins.