Ritual circumcision is a different area but its practice in South Africa, for example, has important ramifications for the promotion of circumcision as an HIV/AIDS prophylactic.
This story was in the news this week:
Eight boys have died and three are in hospital after botched circumcisions in the South African province of Mpumalanga, officials say. The teenagers were at an initiation school in the town of Kwamhlanga. One of the initiates died in hospital and the seven others were found by health officials dead at the school.
These circumcisions were done as part of a widespread traditional rite of passage for boys before they can be considered men and play a full adult role in their community.
There are two separate issues here, the ethical/moral and the medical.
Commenting on another culture’s traditions has become taboo in some circles thanks to Post Modernism and cultural relativity where one culture may not be judgmental of another, especially if it’s a Western culture commenting on a Third World one. This is seen as a kind of cultural imperialist invasion or at best patronizing and ignorant. Just because something is considered wrong in one culture doesn’t mean it’s wrong for another. Everyone’s traditions and beliefs should be respected because there are no absolutes.
The question of whether it is a cultural crime to raise ethical and Human Rights objections to children being mutilated without their consent, putting their health and sometimes their lives at risk is not the subject of this current post. But the serious implications for HIV/AIDS prevention is germane.
The South African Government recognizes the health risk of ritual cutting; in 2001 it passed an act (The Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act) requiring a license from a medical officer for each (male) circumcision. But the act seems to be having little effect. In July last year, 15 boys died and 90 were taken to hospital after botched circumcisions. The main causes of death and hospitalisation are blood loss and dehydration.
Despite the Government’s attempts, community leaders are resisting medical supervision and licensing because, as they said, this ‘infringed community rights’. Protecting children’s lives is apparently less important than protecting beliefs.
'...in general, communities considered morbidity and mortality as par for the course. Interviewers were told that "deaths and injury were seen as a way of separating out those boys who were not fit to play the role of men in society." Compounding this 'natural selection' technique, another popular belief is that if an initiate suffers medical complications, he has brought it upon himself through some form of wrong doing, and is therefore being punished.'
There may be cultural resistance to condom use – albeit a different kind of resistance, based on male preference rather than ancient tradition – but overcoming entrenched beliefs about who has the right to cut boys and in what context (ritual rather than clinical) makes it difficult to see how an initiative to encourage it as a preventive will work in areas where it is seen as belonging to cultural practice, a ritual based on a belief that may not be invaded by science – even in the minimal form of sterile conditions and instruments.
Moreover, some research has found that ritual cutting can increase infection rates:
"Traditionally an assegaai is used. Implements may be blunt or reused. This practice has been implicated in the spread of blood-borne infections, such as Tetanus, Hepatitis B and STDs, including HIV/AIDS." (Source as above.)
In addition, one researcher has revealed a further problem:
"Of late, the practice has degenerated into a money-making operation. People pay as much as R400 per boy for the attendance of (circumcision) schools. The schools are launched annually at some localities (as opposed to the old tradition of every five years)." (Sourceas above.)
Illegal procedures will prove even harder to monitor and medicalise.
Even if it were possible to tap into an existing culture of circumcision to use it as a preventive, research done in South Africa and published in the South African Medical Journal states (my underlining) that:
"It is, however, questionable how circumcision, and particularly neonatal circumcision, could achieve such a goal. A rational and critical analysis of the scientific evidence ought to conclude that non-therapeutic infant circumcision is merely the medicalisation of an old ritual that should not, in the 21st century, be advocated as prevention strategy for HIV/AIDS."
This whole article is worth reading.
The evidence against circumcision is stacking up. The statistics do not show that it is an effective protection. Ritual circumcision is likely to prove an obstacle to (the alleged benefits of) medical prophylaxis and may also worsen the problem.
Finally, some further information from this article to add to my last post about the situation in America, the country behind PEPFAR, a major partnership initiative to promote preventive circumcision in America.
Teens 15 years and older in the USA have the highest rate of STDs in any industrialised country and half will contract a sexually transmitted disease by age 25, despite two-thirds of young males having been circumcised. Such reports suggest that the social experiment of circumcision to prevent STDs, including HIV, has already failed in the USA, which has the highest rate of non-therapeutic infant circumcision in industrialised countries and the highest rate of HIV in the developed world.
The call for neonatal non-therapeutic circumcision for prevention of HIV by some members of the Catholic Church suggests misunderstanding of the local context, and supporting genital surgery on newborn boys but discouraging the more effective preventive measure of condom use lacks logic.
Of course, it is not just the Catholic Church and Catholic organisations that are anti-condom (and often pro-abstinence), there are other religiously-inspired organizations promoting circumcision as the list of PEPFAR partners discussed in the previous post shows.
http://layscience.net/trackback/882
I was circumcised but I chose not to force the procedure on my son out of some misplaced nostalgia for my own mutilation. For most people, it is a religious ritual that served to set "gods people" separate from others.
The study, as noted, was conducted in a manner and method that allows a high degree of bias. The only plausible reason for this study to be true is that scar tissue accepts less invasion, is less porous and elastic, than normal skin tissue. The problem here is, of course, that hiv/aids is not spread "through" skin. I'll read the whole study but I don't have high hopes for it.
I've never had a problem with condoms, I was raised a Catholic, and to be honest the very slight effect of reducing sensitivity is far outweighed by my ability to keep going longer, I consider it a plus.
I have not been circumcised and would NEVER consider it for my son without some damn good medical evidence.
For myself I was recommended when young for one of two courses of action due to infection, circumcision or more careful washing. My Parents sensibly decided on the second option.
Genital mutilation is not a realistic option, and I would love it if the Pope could be persuaded to change his mind about condoms.
Ambush
My name is Simon and I am a 29 year old male. I first discovered that I was HIV Positive in June of 2009. Three weeks earlier I had gone to a local health center for testing and I was negative. The following week I applied for life insurance and was denied because my test results came back positive. When I received my results, for some reason I was calm. Instead of searching for treatments, I immediately went online to search for the cure – that’s when I ran across the youtube.com presentation of Apostle Shada Mishe. I immediately e-mailed him and he asked me some very basic information: my name, viral load, and age. When I e-mailed him this information, he invited me to come to his home in Toronto to get some Ambush. Ambush was the cure that the Apostle was presenting on youtube.com. The Apostle said that Ambush kills HIV/AIDS completely in 21 days. I didn’t have a passport at the time, and I live in the U.S., so the Apostle gave me an open invitation and told me to contact him when I was ready to come.
I traveled to see the Apostle on the 4th of July. Before I left, I sent him a final e-mail asking him if I needed to bring anything and he replied, “just you.” I arrived at the Apostle’s home very early in the morning, in fact, he was still asleep. Nevertheless, when he answered the door, he greeted me with a big hug and said, “hello my son.” He explained to me that he needed a little more time to finish making the Ambush, so I sat. He then bought in a pan of water and a towel and asked me to take off my socks, and then he washed my feet. He then anointed me from head to feet in oil, as he prayed with me. We sat for hours and talked about almost everything: the state of the world, religion, sex, family, goals, etc. He informed me that from that point on he was my father and there was nothing that I should feel I couldn’t tell him.
Once the Ambush was ready, the Apostle bought some to me in a small glass. He took a sip first then told me to drink it. Surprisingly, it had a pleasant taste – like tea with ginger. He told me to drink it three times daily for the next three weeks. He packaged it in a bottle and gave it to me. Before I left his home, he told me to put my hands on this huge slab of marble. He put his hands on it too and then he prayed for me. I immediately felt a spirit of peace.
For the next three weeks I took the recommended dosage of Ambush. The Apostle also told me to take a daily vitamin supplement with it. In the first week I felt no change. In the second week I felt very sluggish, nauseated and I noticed that my hair was thinning rapidly. I felt like I was going through chemotherapy. This was a direct contrast to how the Apostle told me I would feel. He said that I would have more energy, my skin would look better and I would feel healthier than I had in a long time. I never stopped taking the Ambush, but I communicated my concerns to the Apostle through e-mail. Each time I e-mailed him, he immediately responded, answering all of my questions and coddling my fears.
I went and got blood work after I completed taking the Ambush. It took a few months for me to go back because I was scared. I knew what I had prayed for and what the Apostle had told me, but if this didn’t work, I would have to face the fact that I would die from AIDS. In early October, I got my test results back. My doctor informed me that he was expecting my viral load to be in the double digit thousands because I had recently contracted the disease, but it came back at 69! This was outstanding. I called the Apostle and we talked over the phone and rejoiced. He told me to come back to see him before I got tested again. I did. He gave me another three week supply of Ambush. On December 21, 2009 I was diagnosed as undetectable. That was the best Christmas present that I could have received.
I am telling my story because there are millions of people infected with HIV/ AIDS. There is a cure! I paid nothing for Ambush and no one has paid me to write this story. This information is pure fact. My hope is that someone with the power to manufacture this cure will read this story, so that thousands of people will stop suffering and dying needlessly of this disease each year. There is hope and I have found it in Ambush and Apostle Shada Mishe.
Article Submitted on January 1, 2010 by Simon T.
THE CURE for HIV/AIDS.......AMBUSH
THE IDEA that AMBUSH cures AIDS
is being proven by the more than 400 individuals who have taken a dose of 60 ml three times daily for 21 days. The result is that AMBUSH 'KILLS' the virus by causing the protein envelope to rupture and the viral particles are discarded by the white blood cells. AMBUSH is able to 'KILL' the virus that are 'hiding' in the lymph system by its 'natural radioactive' properties. This process allows the body to 'return to normal health' with a corresponding immunity to that or those strains of the virus.
What is AMBUSH ?
AMBUSH is a radioactive isotope of uranium that is found in the 'palm' plant of which there are more than 3000 species. When ingested, AMBUSH causes the body temperature in the trunk area to rise to about 102 degrees when the individual is sleeping. The preparation takes four hours per batch, which is then given to the individuals for consumption 60 ml three times daily for 21 days. AMBUSH is a herbal preparation in this form but it contains an active ingredient which is a 'NEW' crystalline substance, a drug from the 'palm plant' similarly to ASPIRIN originating from the willow tree bark
RESULTS:
After 21 days on AMBUSH, ALL the individuals experienced a decrease in viral load to undetectable, an increase in cd4, increase in RBC, an improvement in general health such as more color to the face, decrease in Buffalo hump, an increase in gluteal muscles, a decrease to having no joint pains whereby individuals can bend to touch their toes, and walk up steps are but a few examples. There is also a dramatic increase in their sexual appetite beginning after the first week of therapy
DISCUSSION:
In any plant concoction such as percolated 'tea', there are 30-40,000 compounds, whi ch would take the scientific community twenty years to isolate one particular ingredient if they knew what they were looking for. The LORD GOD has given me seven steps to isolate the active ingredient, which is soft and metallic in nature and has a carbon- uranium-sulfur-(classified)-phentolamine configuration or structure. This is similar to Federick Kekule and the discovery of the benzene ring where he dreamt the structure.
As an antiviral and 'natural radioactivity' producing agent, AMBUSH is also effective against leukemia, lupus and HPV. Here I am saying that I have 'GIVEN' AMBUSH in the same 'strength' and dosage to patients with leukemia, lupus and HPV. A 35 year old male with HIV found it difficult to impossible to urinate was put on 'green tea' and water while the doctors contemplated prostrate surgery. One of the doctors gave him my number , I sent him a supply of AMBUSH an d he has not been given any more ARV's, since taking AMBUSH 18 months ago, is in 'good' health and has expressed a willingness to be examined by HIV investigators like many others who have taken AMBUSH.
I have sent this 'IDEA' to most HIV research agencies, scientist of the field, universities, hospitals, clinics, politicians and news agencies to which it is REJECTED because the name of THE LORD GOD is mentioned. He has steered me scientifically through the processes such as which plant and how to produce the active ingredient. What are the odds of a Florida Pharmacist picking a plant would contain the CURE for HIV/AIDS ?
I have never charged any of the people for their supply of AMBUSH but a life saving has been spent on the project with NO renumeration from any sources because AMBUSH falls outside the walls of modern medicine and research.
PROPOSAL:
My proposal is that I PROVE that AMBUSH CURES HIV/AIDS by giving it to a number of END-STAGE or DRUG-RESISTANT people and the scientific community watches their recovery. This proposal addresses the problem in that I have already outlaid the results to be obtained.
This IDEA is unconventional in that the scientific community has rejected AMBUSH because I say it is GOD given. Secondly if I wrote it according to certain standards, then it might be peer reviewed. However, THE LORD GOD has also shown me that there are five enzyme systems associated with the virus, reverse transcriptase, protease, fusion and two more of which causes the virus to be AIRBOURNE. This means that without DIVINE intervention mankind and ALL warm- blooded mammals will be extinct in a number of years.
The PROOF of what I am saying is found in scientific papers wherein it is found that when the protease cuts the viral strands, it cuts it at DIFFERENT lengths EVERY time, to which it should always be a valine at the end but is a different amino acid every time. This is why it is IMPOSSIBLE to produce a VACCINE.
Since this is NOT a hypothesis but there are about 400 individuals who have taken AMBUSH, here lies a vast area in which to check, recheck and confirm that AMBUSH CURES AIDS. Let it be mentioned that during the HIV reproductive cycle, reverse transcriptase converts viral RNA into DNA compatible to human genetic materials. Thus the human DNA has been 'hijacked' and since each person has a DIFFERENT DNA, then the new viral copy is unique to that person which shows that each individual has a DIFFERENT STRAIN of the virus. Consider two HIV positive people swapping viral strains and increasing its complexity with multiple partners.
It can also be proposed that they be revisited as proof that the strain or strains that they had were 'killed' at the time of taking AMBUSH considering that a person can catch as many different strains as there are people who are infected by HIV.
I am also willing to work with the scientific community in identifying those individuals who took AMBUSH and wish to be identified with this process notwithstanding that some are stigmatized while others are jubilant,
Once AMBUSH is verified as being able to accomplish that which is aforementioned then the next stage might be the natural and artificial synthesis of the substance.
Finally, if this is accepted or not, believed or not, THE LORD GOD always wins and this is the heavenly truth to which AMBUSH was divinely given to mankind for the CURE of HIV/AIDS and it will be here forever. Apostle Shada Mishe.
apostleshadamishe@gmail.com
Here is a video taped presentation that I gave at t he Martin Luther King library in Washington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V53D1w__Po
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPwuwlVBOV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZejptOwMTzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqcTgIAhrhc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7HPKcT_iwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9iQfgiYAnw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3RzRS6tJDM
Surprising...
Most posts about circumcision rapidly degenerate into a shouting match.
And by the way, Simon? Shada? whoever, you are a lying sack of shit.
Circumcision is a dangerous distraction in the fight against AIDS. There are six African countries where men are *more* likely to be HIV+ if they've been circumcised: Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, and Swaziland. Eg in Malawi, the HIV rate is 13.2% among circumcised men, but only 9.5% among intact men. In Rwanda, the HIV rate is 3.5% among circumcised men, but only 2.1% among intact men. If circumcision really worked against AIDS, this just wouldn't happen. We now have people calling circumcision a "vaccine" or "invisible condom", and viewing circumcision as an alternative to condoms.
The South African National Communication Survey on HIV/AIDS, 2009 found that 15% of adults across age groups "believe that circumcised men do not need to use condoms".
The one randomized controlled trial into male-to-female transmission showed a 54% higher rate in the group where the men had been circumcised btw.
69 *people* died of male circumcision last year in just one province of South Africa.
ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful, Condoms) is the way forward. Promoting genital surgery will cost African lives, not save them.