Second look at circumcision?

In a new policy report published Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed the procedure and its medical benefits for the first time, urging third-party insurance providers to cover the cuts. The landmark guidelines come on the heels of a surprising study published last week by Johns Hopkins researchers, which linked declining rates in circumcision in recent years to rising health-care costs—and a measurable spike in sexually-transmitted infections…

“There’s enough medical evidence to suggest we shouldn’t have been neutral before,” says Dr. Michael Brady, a member of the AAP’s circumcision task force, who allows that by not recognizing procedural health benefits in previous reports, the AAP gave Medicaid the opportunity to decline payment. “Now, we’re clearly stating that third-party payers and Medicaid should cover circumcision so that parents aren’t having the decision made for them.”

And boy, the newly recognized health benefits are many: for starters, lower risks of men acquiring HIV, genital herpes, HPV, syphilis, penile cancer, and UTIs, in addition to reduced cervical cancers among their female sexual partners. In this respect, the report affirms many national and international scientific studies, including one in 2005 by French and South African researchers who found that male circumcision cuts the risk of HIV infection by up to 60 percent.