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Following the discovery of bacteria as a cause of many diseases – such as tuberculosis – the search began for other illnesses that could be prevented by circumcision.
In 1870 the renowned promiment Dr. [[Lewis A. Sayre]] of NYC’s famed Bellevue Hospital<ref>https://nypost.com/2016/12/03/bellevues-doctors-invented-the-procedures-you-take-for-granted/</ref> claimed to cure a boy’s paralyzed legs with circumcision. Sayre's wild advocacy of circumcision exemplified how some [https://intaction.org/circumcision-facts-and-myths/ circumcision facts and myths] originated. He also claimed to cure epilepsy, mental disorders, hip-joint pain, & hernias with circumcision. “Genital irritations” & masturbation were deemed to be the cause of these issues. Sayre was later elected as the President of the American Medical Association. <ref>American Medical Association. Transactions of the American Medical Association. 1870;21:205–11</ref>
In the 1920s it was penile cancer. [[Abraham L. Wolbarst]] (1926) claims that circumcision can prevent penile cancer.<ref name="wolbarst1926">{{REFjournal