Circumcision

Sam, you rock buddy.

STOP preforming unecessary surgeries on people who have no idea or voice to express their wishes.

I don't care if it means you have to spend more time cleaning your infant's penis.

You know, it can save time to give old people colostemies, taking the whole anus out of the evacuation routine. So, how about whenever we find someone who cannot defend or express their wishes, we could then surgically alter them in order to make them "cleaner" and "easier" to handle.

Obviously sarcasm. STOP thinking that you have any say or SHOULD have any say over what happens to another person's body, and many problem's evaporate. Or don't...

"here are some people in the world that don't realize their cut penis didn't naturally come that way"

Here's a link to a funny story about that for all of you who are as addicted to Craigslist as I am:
www.craigslist.org/about/be...8683.html

From what I can tell, there don't appear to be any negative effects, but I know people who feel "cheated." Although, there was a South Park eposode where one of the characters mentioned that it makes your penis look bigger than it would otherwise (in appearance only). ???

From a female perspective, I really have no preference. The first few penises I saw were cut, so it took a little getting used to seeing an uncircumsized one, but I quickly grew to love the little Snuffaluffagus (not sure of the spelling of that one).

I have a son..

And its funny looking back ..

You know who was the most encouraging about circumsision... the hospital nurses. They kept using the "other kids in the Gym locker room scenario"... Whose to say that my boy will be in a highschool locker room? May be he will be home schooled by highschool. Maybe he will be like our old bud Lou..so fricking smart he was in College when he was 14. Maybe he will be so big & strong and liked by the other kids that they wouldnt dare make fun of his penis ..... Who knows...

I felt that it was not my choice to have his foreskin removed. If my son wants to have it done when he is older...fine, he can make the informed choice for himself.

Amy:-)

Scientists Discover 'Natural Barrier' to HIV
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter Mon Mar 5, 2:02 PM ET

MONDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have discovered that cells
in the mucosal lining of human genitalia produce a protein that "eats up"
invading HIV -- possibly keeping the spread of the AIDS more contained than
it might otherwise be.

Even more important, enhancing the activity of this protein, called
Langerin, could be a potent new way to curtail the transmission of the virus
that causes AIDS, the Dutch scientists added.

Langerin is produced by Langerhans cells, which form a web-like network in
skin and mucosa. This network is one of the first structures HIV confronts
as it attempts to infect its host.

However, "we observed that Langerin is able to scavenge viruses from the
surrounding environment, thereby preventing infection," said lead researcher
Teunis Geijtenbeek, an immunologist researcher at Vrije University Medical
Center in Amsterdam.

"And since generally all tissues on the outside of our bodies have
Langerhans cells, we think that the human body is equipped with an antiviral
defense mechanism, destroying incoming viruses," Geijtenbeek said.

The finding, reported in the March 4 online issue of Nature Medicine, "is
very interesting and unexpected," said Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, director of the
Laboratory for AIDS Virus Research at the Weill Cornell Medical College, in
New York City. "It may explain part of the relative inefficiency of HIV in
being transmitted."

Even though HIV has killed an estimated 22 million people since it was first
recognized more than 25 years ago, it is actually not very good at infecting
humans, relatively speaking.

For example, the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer,
is nearly 100 percent infectious, Laurence noted. That means that every
encounter with the sexually transmitted virus will end in infection.

"On the other hand, during one episode of penile-vaginal intercourse with an
HIV-infected partner, the chance that you are going to get HIV is somewhere
between one in 100 and one in 200," Laurence said.

Experts have long puzzled why HIV is relatively tough to contract, compared
to other pathogens. The Dutch study, conducted in the laboratory using
Langerhans cells from 13 human donors, may explain why.

When HIV comes in contact with genital mucosa, its ultimate target -- the
cells it seeks to hijack and destroy -- are immune system T-cells. But
T-cells are relatively far away (in lymph tissues), so HIV uses nearby
Langerhans cells as "vehicles" to migrate to T-cells.

For decades, the common wisdom was that HIV easily enters and infects
Langerhans cells. Geijtenbeek's team has now cast doubt on that notion.

Looking closely at the interaction of HIV and Langerhans cells, they found
that the cells "do not become infected by HIV-1, because the cells have the
protein Langerin on their cell surface," Geijtenbeek said. "Langerin
captures HIV-1 very efficiently, and this Langerin-bound HIV-1 is taken up
(a bit like eating) by the Langerhans cells and destroyed."

In essence, Geijtenbeek said, "Langerhans cells act more like a virus vacuum
cleaner."

Only in certain circumstances -- such as when levels of invading HIV are
very high, or if Langerin activity is particularly weak -- are Langerhans
cells overwhelmed by the virus and infected.

The finding is exciting for many reasons, not the least of which is its
potential for HIV prevention, Geijtenbeek said.

"We are currently investigating whether we can enhance Langerin function by
increasing the amount of Langerin on the cell surface of Langerhans cells,"
he said. "This might be a real possibility, but it will take time. I am also
confident that other researchers will now also start exploring this
possibility."

The discovery might also help explain differences in vulnerability to HIV
infection among people.

"It is known that the Langerin gene is different in some individuals,"
Geijtenbeek noted. "These differences could affect the function of Langerin.
Thus, Langerhans cells with a less functional Langerin might be more
susceptible to HIV-1, and these individuals are more prone to infection. We
are currently investigating this."

The finding should also impact the race to find topical microbicides that
might protect women against HIV infection. Choosing compounds that allow
Langerin to continue to work its magic will enhance any candidate
microbicide's effectiveness, the Dutch researcher said.

Laurence did offer one note of caution, however.

"In the test tube, this is a very important finding," he said. "But there
are many things in the test tube that don't occur when you get into an
animal or a human. Having said that, though, this is a very intriguing
finding."

More information

For more on the fight against HIV/AIDS, head to the Foundation for AIDS
Research.

i have a cousin who got circumcised as an adult. it was very painful for him.

it was done to me as a baby. so it is just my natural state for me. and am glad my parents had it done. I have heard some horror stories dont know if true or not) of uncircumcised boys getting really bad infections and sores from not cleaning thoroughly.

>> one of the downsides of letting your captain keep his hat is that you're more susceptible to STDs.

I don't think applies to children. If it's a concern for the adult, and if he doesn't want to use a condom, then he can choose to be circumcised.

BUT... it seems your source of information that STDs are more common is different to this source: www.cirp.org/library/disease/STD/ which says that STDs occur more in circumcised males. Here it says that a study describes the many natural immunological protective mechanisms provided by the prepuce against infection. The prepuce has many immunological protections against disease. These mechanisms may explain why surgically-altered, circumcised men seem to have a greater incidence of many different STDs. Dried-out mucous membranes are more prone to infection than naturally moist ones. The foreskin naturally moisturizes the glans penis, keeping it in optimum healthy condition to resist infection. The subpreputial moisture also contains lyzosyme, an enzyme that attacks and destroys the cell walls of bacteria.

Another issue is penile cancer which can occur in about 1 in 600 over men over 70, but that means cutting the other 599 children unnecessarily, surely wait until they're 70, and if they are the 1 in 600 then do it.

Where did you get the information that circumcision reducing the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease?