New Guidelines From the CDC Say Benefits of Circumcision Outweigh Risks

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a draft of guidelines (to be finalized next year) stating that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh any potential risks and health insurers should provide coverage. These are the first federal guidelines on the medical procedure, which involves cutting the foreskin around the tip of a (usually newborn) boy’s penis.

The CDC’s guidelines have been in the works for seven years, following a series of studies indicating circumcision might prevent AIDS transmission. The research indicated that circumcision can: :

• Reduce a man’s risk of contracting HIV from an infected female partner by 50–60 percent
• Reduce a man’s risk of contracting genital herpes and specific strains of human papillomavirus by at least 30 percent
• Reduce a man’s risk urinary tract infections during infancy and penile cancer during adulthood

According to the CDC, by 2010, newborn circumcision rates in the U.S. dropped to 58 percent (more than 80 percent of newborn boys received the procedure by the 1960s) amid objections from organizations against circumcision and a generally neutral position from the American Academy of Pediatrics. As a result, 18 state Medicaid programs followed suit and stopped paying for newborn circumcisions, but these new recommendations from the CDC could change that.