Answers for Plato and all Non Believers Part-2

Submitted by Maqsood (Pakistan), Jul 31, 2007 at 07:13

Circumcision is halal. Is it not against nature. Children have died due to infection and bleeding. Instead of instructions to keep the area clean you are told to cut off the foreskin.

Ans:The American Academy of Family Physicians believes parents should discuss with their son's doctor the potential benefits and the risks involved when making their decision.

A recent AAP report stated that circumcision does offer some benefit in preventing urinary tract infections in infants. Circumcision also offers some benefit in preventing penile cancer in adult men. However, this disease is very rare in all men, whether or not they have been circumcised. Circumcision may reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. A man's sexual practices (e.g., if he uses condoms, if he has more than one partner, etc.) has more to do with STD prevention than whether or not he is circumcised.

Study results are mixed about whether circumcision may help reduce the risk of cervical cancer in female sex partners, and whether it helps prevent certain problems with the penis, such as infections and unwanted swelling. Some studies show that keeping the penis clean can help prevent these problems just as well as circumcision. Infections and unwanted swelling are not serious and can usually be easily treated if they do occur.

Circumcision

Written by Dr John Dean, specialist in sexual medicine

What is circumcision?

Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves partial or complete removal of the foreskin (prepuce) of the penis. The first evidence of circumcision comes from early Egyptian wall paintings that are more than 5000 years old.

How common is circumcision?

About one-fifth of men worldwide have been circumcised, mostly for religious and cultural reasons when the procedure is commonly performed shortly after birth or around puberty.

Although adults are occasionally circumcised as an act of religious dedication, adult circumcision is most commonly performed for medical reasons.

• At present, around 80 per cent of US males have been circumcised, mostly for non-religious reasons. The frequency of newborn circumcision has fallen in the USA from 90 per cent in the 1950s to around 60 per cent today.

• In Korea, more than 90 per cent of men have been circumcised, usually in their teens and twenties.

• In the UK in 1948, around 20 per cent of boys were circumcised shortly after birth, more commonly among middle class families and those living in the south of England. Then, 50 per cent of grammar school boys, 84 per cent of public school boys and 60 per cent of graduates were circumcised. By 1975, only 6 per cent of boys born in the UK were circumcised.

Why circumcise?

Reasons for circumcision fall into three broad groups:

• for an immediate medical indication

• to prevent future disease

• as an act of religious dedication.

Circumcision for an immediate medical reason

Non-retractable foreskin in children

Contrary to common belief, the foreskin cannot be pulled back (retracted) in almost all newborn babies. Well-meaning parents do not need to try cleaning under the foreskin until it has become fully retractable of its own accord because attempts to pull back a non-retractable foreskin can result in pain and possibly injury.

About 50 per cent of one-year-old boys will have a non-retractable foreskin, 30 per cent of two-year-olds, about 10 per cent of four-year-olds and about 5 per cent of 10-year-olds.

The small percentage of adults who have a persistently non-retractable foreskin have a slightly increased chance of developing phimosis (see below), but this persistence is not a reason for circumcision.

Phimosis

In phimosis (foreskin contraction), the opening of the foreskin is narrowed, preventing retraction. Provided that the skin of the foreskin is normal and inability to retract it does not cause problems with intercourse or recurrent infections, no action is necessary.

Occasionally, the edge of the foreskin has a white, scarred, inelastic appearance and will not pucker open as it is retracted. Between 1 and 1.5 per cent of boys will develop this condition by the time they are 17 years old. Symptoms can include

• irritation or bleeding from the edge of the foreskin

• stinging or pain on passing urine (dysuria)

• inability to pass urine (acute or, rarely, chronic urinary retention).


The changes in the prepuce are known as balanitis xerotica obliterans, which can become cancerous if left untreated. Circumcision is advisable in most cases.

Acute balanoposthitis

This condition involves redness and swelling of the foreskin, together with a discharge of pus from the space between the foreskin and the glans.

Sometimes the whole penis may be swollen and inflamed. Between 3 and 10 per cent of boys will develop this condition, depending on how the condition is defined.

Balanoposthitis is very occasionally the first sign of diabetes. If there is no underlying cause, simple hygiene measures, mild painkillers and the avoidance of tugging the foreskin are the only necessary treatments. Most cases will recover without further intervention. Circumcision is only done for recurrent and troublesome cases.

Paraphimosis

This condition is caused by forcibly pulling back the foreskin behind the coronal ridge of the glans or head of the penis, without its subsequent replacement.

The foreskin then forms a tight tourniquet around the glans, causing severe pain. The condition can sometimes be treated by firmly but gently squeezing the trapped glans until the foreskin can slip over it again.

If this is not possible, the paraphimosis needs to be reduced under a general anaesthetic. Circumcision is only very rarely necessary.

Circumcision to prevent future disease

Prevention of disease is the second most commonly given reason for circumcision after religious reasons, although the evidence that it has any beneficial effect on future health is very poor. The practice is, more likely, rooted in cultural traditions, although western societies may find this an uncomfortable conclusion.

Penile cancer

Cancer of the penis is an extremely rare disease and, in the early part of the last century, was almost unheard of in circumcised men. However, there is some evidence that circumcision may only offer protection from penile cancer if done in childhood, and adult surgery may not offer any protection.

Poor personal hygiene, smoking and exposure to wart virus (human papilloma virus) increase the risk of developing penile cancer at least as much as being uncircumcised.

Circumcised men are more at risk from penile warts than uncircumcised men, and the risk of developing penile cancer is now almost equal in the two groups. Therefore, routine circumcision cannot be recommended to prevent penile cancer.

Sexually transmitted diseases

Sexually transmitted infections that cause ulcers on the genitals (syphilis, chancroid, herpes simplex) are more common in uncircumcised men. However, urethritis or inflammation of the tube that carries urine through the penis (caused by gonorrhoea and non-gonococcal urethritis) is more common in circumcised men, as are penile warts.

Yeast infection (caused by candida or thrush) is equally common in circumcised and uncircumcised men, although circumcised men are less likely to have symptoms with this infection so they are more likely to unknowingly pass on thrush to their sexual partners.

Far more effective and reliable methods than circumcision exist to reduce the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, such as the use of condoms and adoption of safer sexual practices. Thus circumcision cannot be recommended to prevent these infections.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection

Views conflict on whether circumcision can prevent HIV infection. A recent review in the British Journal of Urology concluded that there is no link between having an intact foreskin and HIV infection, whereas another paper in the British Medical Journal takes exactly the opposite view.

Circumcision may be appropriate as a routine preventive measure only in regions that have a high rate of HIV infection, such as sub-Saharan Africa. The existing evidence is inadequate to recommend circumcision as an HIV-preventive measure in the UK.

Cervical cancer

A study in 1947 reported that Jewish women rarely developed cervical cancer and the author attributed this finding to the fact that their sexual partners were circumcised.

Further studies over the past 50 years have had contradictory conclusions, with experts enthusiastically championing the case for and against circumcision. The evidence is inadequate to recommend it as a preventive measure against cervical cancer.

Urinary tract infection (UTI)

Since 1987, several studies have suggested that uncircumcised male infants are up to 10 times more likely to contract a urinary tract infection (UTI). One in 100 uncircumcised infants will develop a UTI, compared with 1 in 1000 circumcised infants.

A UTI is not usually a great risk to health, so it does not seem reasonable to perform a surgical procedure on 100 infants to reduce the risk of one developing UTI.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

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Circumcision could save millions from AIDS: studies

SYDNEY: Millions of new HIV infections in Africa could be avoided if more men were circumcised, an International AIDS Society conference was told on Tuesday.

Studies in Africa have found that male circumcision, the world's oldest surgical procedure dating back to 2300 BC, reduces HIV transmission from females to males by 60 percent.

Universal circumcision could avert 2 million new infections and 300,000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa over 10 years, said Professor Robert Bailey from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

"If we had a vaccine that was 60 percent protective we would be very happy and rolling it out as fast as possible," Bailey told the IAS conference in Sydney.

"But no one stands to profit from male circumcision — no one but the 4,000 in Africa who will be infected tomorrow."

Africa is the epicentre of the AIDS epidemic. South Africa has an estimated 5.5 million people with HIV and is struggling to stem the spread of the disease in the general population.

But African nations such as Cameroon and Nigeria, where circumcision is common, have a much lower rate of HIV infection than Zimbabwe and Swaziland where there is little circumcision.

The idea of using circumcision as a weapon against AIDS emerged after studies in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and the United States found the potential to significantly reduce infections, said Bailey, adding the World Health Organisation has now endorsed circumcision as a disease prevention method.

"The challenge ahead for us is how to roll out circumcision safely ... and to persuade leaders in countries that it is going to help their populations," Bailey told a news conference.

"Circumcision is not just simply a surgical procedure. Its tied up in a complex web of cultural and religious practices and beliefs," he added.

"It's not easy for politicians and ministers of health to quickly come out in favour of circumcision in countries where circumcision is not traditionally practiced."

Bailey said aid organisations would not offer the service until local governments endorsed it, for fear of being seen as culturally insensitive.

Women back circumcision: Women in African nations are expected to be the drivers behind using circumcision to stop HIV infection as they are traditionally associated with ensuring hygiene in communities.

"Women, more than men, equate circumcision with improved hygeine," said Bailey.

"It's often up to women to provide the water, the soap and the materials for men to bathe and cleanse themselves. Many of the women complain the men are not as clean as they could be."

Circumcision should not be seen by men as their only preventative measure against HIV and must still be combined with safe sex practices. Condom use should still be encouraged.

"It's very important not to view this as a standalone surgical procedure," said Bailey.

Technology battle AIDS: The emergence of new and improved drugs, genetic engineering and the ancient surgical practice of circumcision are the latest weapons in the fight against AIDS, the International AIDS Society conference was told on Tuesday.

A new batch of drugs that slow the progress of HIV in patients and genetically modified cells that prevent further infections are about to become available or trialled, doctors told the world's largest AIDS conference.

"It's an extremely exciting time in terms of drug development. We have better drugs in existing classes, as well as whole new classes of drugs," said Professor David Cooper, co-chairman of the 2007 IAS conference in Sydney.

"African studies have shown that male circumcision can reduce HIV transmission from women to men by about 60 percent, said Professor Robert Bailey at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Universal circumcision could avert two million new infections and 300,000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa over 10 years, he said. Africa is the epicentre of the AIDS epidemic. South Africa has an estimated 5.5 million people with HIV and is struggling to stem the spread of the disease in the general population.

Bailey said that while the World Health Organisation (WHO) had now endorsed circumcision as a preventative measure, encouraging the widespread use of circumcision would not be easy.

"Circumcision is not just simply a surgical procedure. It's tied up in a complex web of cultural and religious practices and beliefs," he said.

New drugs: New drugs and improved second-generation drugs will not only be more effective in fighting HIV, the IAS conference was told, but could offer treatment to patients whose disease had become immune to earlier drugs. Recent research has shown that new classes of anti-retroviral drugs, which include various inhibitors, provide superior benefit to patients with highly resistant HIV, said Joseph Eron, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.

"I think that while it will take some time, some of these new agents will also be very useful in the developing world were we are seeing the emergence of resistant virus," said Eron in detailing the new drugs.

At the cutting edge of the AIDS battle is genetic engineering, with human trials about to start on genetically modifying a HIV patient's blood stem cells and T cells and reintroducing them into the body to better fight the disease. reuters

If u need further clarity i can provide u. Believe me it is your science (i confess that Muslims now a days are not that good in science) that is proving every order or saying of Islam.

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