Opinion: Snip and duck

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A couple of decades ago, the trend in Western medicine was to discourage parents from having their newborn sons’ penises circumcised, a dramatic turnaround from the trend of a couple of millennia ago. But trend cycles have a way of speeding up, and we’re already back to doctors saying biblical Abraham might have had the right idea after all, though he undertook the procedure at a more advanced age.

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that circumcision is associated with dramatically reduced rates of the virus that causes genital warts, the virus that causes cervical cancer in women, and syphilis. This comes on top of findings a couple of years ago that circumcision appeared to have a protective effect against HIV infection. reducing infection rates in males by up to 60%.

As a result, some doctors are calling for circumcision as a public health measure. Knowing doctors, though, and the rate at which medical advice changes (Did wine end up being good or bad for us in the latest round?), males with uncertain sentiments on the subject will likely want to hold off before making radical anatomical modifications. It’s a lot easier to eat more garlic -- or give up garlic -- than to undo genital surgery.

mohel, who performs Jewish ritual circumcisions, with a client. Credit: Handout from Rabbi Jacob Shechet