unsuccessful. Of current concern is a report by the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TLRI) recommending that\r\nnon-therapeutic circumcision be prohibited, with parents and doctors risking criminal sanctions except where the\r\nparents have strong religious and ethnic ties to circumcision. The acceptance of this recommendation would create\r\na precedent for legislation elsewhere in the world, thereby posing a threat to pediatric practice, parental\r\nresponsibilities and freedoms, and public health.\r\nDiscussion: The TLRI report ignores the scientific consensus within medical literature about circumcision. It\r\ncontains legal and ethical arguments that are seriously flawed. Dispassionate ethical arguments and the United\r\nNations Convention on the Rights of the Child are consistent with parents being permitted to authorize\r\ncircumcision for their male child. Uncritical acceptance of the TLRI report�s recommendations would strengthen and\r\nlegitimize efforts to ban childhood male circumcision not just in Australia, but in other countries as well. The\r\nmedical profession should be concerned about any attempt to criminalize a well-accepted and evidence-based\r\nmedical procedure. The recommendations are illogical, pose potential dangers and seem unworkable in practice.\r\nThere is no explanation of how the State could impose criminal charges against doctors and parents, nor of how\r\nsuch a punitive apparatus could be structured, nor how strength of ethnic or religious ties could be determined.\r\nThe proposal could easily be used inappropriately, and discriminates against parents not tied to the religions\r\nspecified. With time, religious exemptions could subsequently be overturned. The law, governments and the\r\nmedical profession should reject the TLRI recommendations, especially since the recent affirmative infant male\r\ncircumcision policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics attests to the significant individual and\r\npublic health benefits and low risk of infant male circumcision.\r\nSummary: Doctors should be allowed to perform medical procedures based on sound evidence of effectiveness\r\nand safety with guaranteed protection. Parents should be free to act in the best interests of the health of their\r\ninfant son by having him circumcised should they choose.
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