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== Circumcision as prevention myth==
The myth that circumcision rendered males immune to penile cancer was invented in 1932 by a New York doctor named [[Abraham L. Wolbarst]], M.D.<ref>Wolbarst, AL. Circumcision and penile cancer. ''Lancet'' 1932; 150-3.</ref> Wolbarst wrote an article that was published in ''The Lancet'' in 1932, implicating human male [[smegma]] as carcinogenic.<ref>Wolbarst A. Circumcision and Penile Cancer. The Lancet, vol. 1 no. 5655 (January 16, 1932): pp. 150-153.</ref> His hypothesis had absolutely no basis in valid scientific and epidemiological research.<ref>Fleiss PM, Hodges F. [http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/cancer/fleiss/ Neonatal circumcision does not protect against cancer]. ''BMJ'' 1996;312(7033):779-80.</ref> Wolbarst was directly responsible for proliferation of this myth, and all subsequent repetitons of it can be traced to his opinion article, although Wolbarst himself advocated universal neonatal circumcision principally as a preventive for epilepsy, paralysis, and [[masturbation]].<ref>Fleiss PM, Hodges F. [http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/cancer/fleiss/ Neonatal circumcision does not protect against cancer]. ''BMJ'' 1996;312(7033):779-80.</ref>