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}}</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

According to Fink's son-in-law, Fink had a son who had a botched circumcision and corrective surgery, and then died at the age of four-years due to a brain tumour. Fink spent the rest of his life trying to justify his son's circumcision and the [[pain ]] that he endured during the four years of his life.<ref>{{REFweb

}}</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

Fink's proposal appeared in media throughout the US and [[Canada]]. Asked about his idea by a United Press reporter, Fink replied "This is nothing I can prove."<ref name="Glick2005Prove">{{REFbook

}} </ref> This didn't stop other physicians from conducting "research" leading to a steady stream of widely publicized articles arguing that [[circumcised ]] men were less likely to contract [[HIV]] - with the result that prevention of [[HIV]] infection has now surpassed even cancer prevention as the most popular claim of circumcision advocates.

}}</ref> In 1991 Fink wrote another letter, claiming infants have no [[Pain| memory of painful events ]] until age six months or older.<ref>{{REFjournal

}}</ref> He died in 1994, but the campaign to link [[HIV]] infection to the [[foreskin ]] continues to this day.