Canada’s pediatricians set to reveal new policy on circumcision

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/Canada+pediatricians+reveal+policy+circumcision/8042479/story.html
By Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News March 2, 2013

Canada’s pediatricians set to reveal new policy on circumcision

The Canadian Paediatric Society is preparing to revise its position on circumcision.

Canada’s pediatricians are about to update their advice on whether baby boys should be circumcised, revising their stand for the first time in 17 years.

Their review comes as new Canadian research suggests half of expectant parents would consider circumcision if they had a son — and that the single most important factor is the circumcision “status” of the father.

The Canadian Paediatric Society’s old policy, issued in 1996, opposed routine circumcision of newborns.

The new statement is expected to be more neutral.

“There isn’t going to be a ‘prescription’ for Canadian males in terms of circumcision,” society president Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical health officer for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, told Postmedia News.

The organization has been struggling to put forward a balanced position “that captures the risks, and the benefits, but is also respectful of personal preferences, religious issues and many other things that dictate this decision,” Stanwick said.

The issue is so loaded with emotion and controversy that the new statement has been three years in the making. “There are very strong opinions on both sides of this issue,” Stanwick said.

“We know that we’re wading into something that, no matter what we write, will not be strong enough for probably either side.”

Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks, a move that provoked demonstrations by anti-circumcision activists who view the procedure as genital mutilation of newborns.

The old policy deemed circumcision medically unnecessary for the “well-being of the child.”
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