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Abraham L. Wolbarst

503 bytes added, 13:40, 5 October 2021
Myth: protection against penile cancer: Revise text; add citation.
== Myth: protection against penile cancer ==
Wolbarst olbarst was solely responsible for the invention of the myth that [[circumcision]] rendered males immune to [[penile cancer]].Wolbarst (1926) made his claim for the first time that male circumcision prevents penile cancer.<ref name="wolbarst1926!>{{REFjournal |last=Wolbarst |first=Abraham L. |init=AL |title=Is circumcision a prophylactic against penis cancer? |journal=Cancer |date=1926-07 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=301-10}}</ref> Wolbarst (1932) put forward his claim that [[circumcision]] would prevent [[penile cancer]] in the British jounal, ''The Lancet''.<ref name="Wolbarst 1932">{{REFjournal
|last=Wolbarst
|init=AL
}}</ref>
Wolbarst was directly responsible for its proliferation. All subsequent repetions of this myth are directly traceable to Wolbarst's article, though Wolbarst himself advocated universal neonatal circumcision principally as a preventive for epilepsy, paralysis, and [[masturbation]]. Circumcision advocates such as Wolbarst do not seem to have promoted this myth because they have a genuine interest in reducing penile cancer; they used it instead as a scare tactic in the promotion of neonatal circumcision.<ref name="Fleiss 1996"/>Wolbarst's false claims were not disproved until 1979.
Boczko & Stanley (1979) collected numerous cases of cancer in circumcised men.<ref name="boczko1979">{{REFjournal
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