Mayor Circumspect About City Suggesting Circumcision

After the NY Times reported the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene wanted to encourage adult men at risk for HIV/AIDS to get circumcised, Mayor Bloomberg distanced himself a bit from such a program. According to today's NY Times, Bloomberg officials "cautioned that [a campaign to promote circumcision] was still in its infancy and not yet something the administration had decided to pursue."

Asked about the approach at a news conference, Mr. Bloomberg expressed support for seeking new ways to combat the disease, but suggested that he was unconvinced that government should be involved in promoting or providing circumcisions.

“I have not had a chance to talk to Tom Frieden and Alan Aviles about this,” Mr. Bloomberg said, referring to Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden and Alan D. Aviles, chairman of the Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Some black AIDS activists were skeptical about the plan, with one telling the Post, "For anyone to think there is going to be a long line of men in their 20s lining up to have part of their anatomy chopped off, it's ludicrous."

The New York Blade has an editorial giving "kudos to health commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden for initiating a program that he had to know would be met with disapproval by many." The Blade adds, "We suspect, however, that he’ll encounter opposition from within the gay community soon enough. His upcoming efforts to promote circumcision among men at high risk for HIV will no doubt be controversial. But that’s another editorial altogether."

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By Jen Chung in News on April 6, 2007 1:53 PM

Comments [rss]

Still Not Amused

I did post a comment explaining the reasons as to why circumcisions are the best way to go . But unfortunately the nice folks here at the Gothamist thought it was just a little too edgy for their taste . The jest of the comment was, Uncircumcised penises are more likely to get infected due to the opening being partially or totally covered by the foreskin . It has nothing to do with any religious beliefs any of us may have . It's for safety reasons that all males should have been circumcised . If you weren't and you haven't experienced any problems with infections in that area then good for you . Me I'm glad I was circumcised .

Jesse Califano

'Circumcision' is just an fancy word for 'Male Mutilation'- Let's at least try to get away from all the 'religious' mumbo-jumbo from the 7th century, and STOP this stupidly inane practice in our Western Civilized world- imposed on innocent children in their first day of life.

Still Not Amused

Well if your not smart enough to get yourself circumcised, & use condoms then you don't deserve any sympathy if you get sick .

Brightliner

If people are too lazy to use condoms, what makes anyone think they're going to go get circumcisions?

DaveH

"[a campaign to promote circumcision] was still in its infancy"

Ha! If the Mayor had said that the evidence was still "circumstantial", I would vote for him for President.

Kojak

When I was circumcised, they used the leftover skin to skin-graft 11,000 burn unit patients.

no snip

Really, the only way circumcision prevents blood related STDs is by markedly decreasing the surface area of the penis.

I'm sure anyone familiar with the male anatomy knows that the 'surface area' they are deleting contains some of the most sensitive erogenous nerve endings in the body. Why anyone would chop that off for a nominal statistical edge is beyond me.