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wikify AIDS
|publisher=Find A Grave
|accessdate=2020-04-10
}}</ref>) was a California urologist, who is believed to have been circumcised on the eighth day of life, and the father of the idea that circumcision could prevent [[AIDS]]. He came up with the idea in 1986,<ref>{{REFbook
|last=Glick
|first=Leonard B.
During the 1980s, some physicians were condemning circumcision as "barbaric and unnecessary," and only "advocated by the uninformed." In 1986, Blue Shield providers in several states decided to discontinue coverage of neonatal circumcision. In reaction to this, Fink sent a manifesto entitled "In Defense of Circumcision" to the ''New York Times'' and the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', repeating antiquated claims of benefits; many of which weren't even published.<ref>{{WallersteinE 1980}}</ref>
=== Another Letter: The [[HIV]]/[[AIDS ]] Hypothesis ===In 1986, Fink sent a letter--"A possible Explanation for Heterosexual Male Infection with [[AIDS]]," where he argued that the hard and toughened glans of the circumcised male resisted infection, while the soft and sensitive foreskin and glans mucosa of the intact male were ports of entry.<ref>{{REFjournal
|last=Fink
|first=Aaron J.
|date=1986
|page=1167
}}</ref> Fink proposed in his letter: "I suspect that men in the United States, who, as compared with those in Africa and elsewhere, have had less acquisition of [[AIDS]], have benefited from the high rate of newborn circumcision in the United States," regardless of the fact that the United States has one of the highest circumcision rates, and one of the highest [[HIV]] rates, in the western (industrialized) world (compare with European countries, Canda, and Australia).<ref>{{REFweb
|last=WHO/UNAIDS
|first=
{{Citation
|Title=Fink's Own Words
|Text=Will your infant son have a problem practicing daily cleaning of his penis? Will he be promiscuous? Will he visit prostitutes? Will he be at greater risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases, including [[AIDS]]? Will he use a condom? Will he live in a tropical humid land? Will he be a diabetic?
|Author=Fink, Aaron J.
|Source=Circumcision, 3.
}}
According to Fink, if his book were to "provide the knowledge and insight that might save even one life from the tragedy of [[AIDS ]] the effort was worthwhile." Since one of the book's seven chapters was entitled "Preventing [[AIDS]]: Another Benefit of Newborn Circumcision," the average reader might have concluded that this was fact and not superstition.<ref name="Glick2005Prove"/>
== Fink's appeal to medical associations ==
=== First attempt ===
In 1987, Fink filed a resolution entitled "Newborn Circumcision as a Public Health Measure" with the California Medical Association, saying that "it has been recently hypothesized that a circumcision, preferably in the newborn period, may lessen the acquisition, and in turn, the spread of [[AIDS]], a sexually transmitted disease." The association's advisory panels on pediatrics and urology concluded that the arguments for adoption were "not sufficiently convincing"; and although one panel stood by circumcision as an "acceptable preventive health measure," both panels recommended against the adoption of the resolution. The association's Scientific Board declined endorsement, and the resolution was not adopted.<ref>Aaron Fink, California Medical Association, Resolution 712-87, March 7-11, 1987; Joan B. Hodgman and Joseph B. Hart, "Report to the Scientific Board" (undated, March 1987?)</ref>
=== Second attempt: success ===