2007-09-06

The British labour movement is poorly informed

On their website, the British Trades Union Council appears to support male genital mutilation for HIV prevention. I assume that they are poorly informed, rather than actually being MGM supporters, so I sent them the following message:
I am very disappointed that the TUC appears to support male circumcision for HIV/AIDS prevention.
(http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/
tuc-13600-f0.cfm)
The procedure is very painful, permanently mutilating, and seriously affects sexual function. The WHO/UNAIDS justification is based on poorly-controlled investigations which will in the future be discredited, as have all studies purporting to show that circumcision protects against other sexually transmitted diseases.

I would like to point out that it was a British pioneer (Dr. Douglas Gairdner) who in 1949 demonstrated that male circumcision was a useless procedure which caused significant harm and even death, and whose work led to the discontinuation of its routine practice in the National Health Service and throughout Britain.

Please see the following web sites:
http://www.cirp.org/library/general/gairdner/
stopcircumcision.blogspot.com
circumcisionandhiv.com