Above, David Llewellyn and Georganne Chapin speak with attendees at the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta,Georgia, held August 23-26, 2009.

From David Llewellyn, Esq.:

This week I attended the CDC sponsored 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where I live. The assembled CDC worthies were promoting circumcision on the basis of three African Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), the conclusions of which were presented by one speaker as being “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Those trials purport to show a dramatic reduction in HIV acquisition in circumcised adult men. They have been subjected to considerable criticism and doubt by others including noted physicians and public health professionals. The following is a short report from the conference.

Dr. Katrina Kretsinger, of the CDC was asked during one of the sessions if the RCTs would be repeated in the U.S. She replied that they would not because it would be unethical to do so! This raises the question: How were they ethical to start with?

I attended a session where Dr. Deborah Gust of the CDC presented a paper demonstrating that circumcision made no difference in the acquisition of HIV by insertive gay males. I asked why these results did not bring into question the conclusions of the RCTs since the anus supposedly contains more HIV than the vagina. The reply, as I understood it, was that since the insertive males also were sometimes receptive males you could not say how they got HIV. Of course, if that is the case, then the study was worthless. But since it was presented as being worthy (otherwise why present it?), I am of the opinion that it does bring into question the validity of the RCTs, as does the known fact that the U.S. has the highest rate of HIV in the developed world (a fact one speaker brought up), the highest STD rate in the developed world, and the highest rate of male circumcision in the developed world. So much for the great American circumcision experiment! It has already failed! Why would reasonable scientists want to repeat it?

At one of the last sessions, the speaker from “Operation Abraham,” an Israel-based group that apparently hopes to be engaged to assist the U.S. in circumcising black and Hispanic males, put a photo of an intact male up on the screen. The figure of an elephant had been drawn around the penis so that the intact penis looked like an elephant’s trunk. The words “Yes! A circumcision please!” had been added to the photo. I remonstrated loudly until this smear against intact males was taken down. I then promptly left the session. I am still awaiting a deserved, written, direct apology from Dr. Peter Kilmarx, Chief of the Epidemiology Branch of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention of the CDC, who was in attendance and from whom I demanded an apology.

The foregoing shows the mindset of the CDC. They seem to have abandoned all scientific objectivity to promote a useless and mutilating surgery. I expect the men are all circumcised and the women are all married to circumcised men. So the trauma repeats itself and those who have been traumatized fulfill their need to traumatize others. (See www.circumcision.org on this issue). And apparently they think it is socially and ethically acceptable to denigrate a normal body part and to attempt to humiliate all intact boys and men into submitting to circumcision.

More information about circumcision can be found at the following websites:

Intact America (www.intactamerica.org)

National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (www.nocirc.org)

Circumcision Information and Resource Pages (www.cirp.org)

The Intactivism Pages (www.circumstitions.com)

Circumcision Resource Centers (www.circumcision.org)

International Coalition for Genital Integrity (www.icgi.org)

Doctors Opposing Circumcision (www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org)

Circumcision Information Site (www.circinfosite.com)

History of Circumcision (www.historyofcircumcision.org).

Those who are as outraged as I am can write appropriate letters to the CDC. Addresses can be found at The CDC/AAP Project page. I herewith set forth those I suggest you write as follows:

Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH

Director

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA 30333

Kevin Fenton, MD, Ph.D., FFHP

Director

The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis,

STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA 30333

kevin.fenton@cdc.hhs.gov

Notably, Fenton is British.

Peter H. Kilmarx, MD

Chief, Epidemiology Branch

Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA 30333

Jonathan Mermin, MD

Director

Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA 30333

Katrina Kretsinger, MD

Lt. Cdr., U.S. Public Health Service

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA 30333

Jason B. Reed, MD, MPH

Epidemiology Branch

Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA 30333

Above, Intact America sponsored a public outreach effort that included mobile billboards with the message, “Tell the CDC that circumcising babies doesn’t prevent HIV”.



And since the CDC is consulting with the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is considering revising its circumcision policy (indeed Operation Abraham’s abstract for its presentation mentioned “lobbying” the AAP), a letter to the AAP’s Circumcision Task Force is needed. You can get the AAP’s address at its website. In addition I set forth below some suggested addresses:

Susan Blank, MD

Chairman

AAP Task Force on Circumcision

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

125 Worth St.

New York, NY 10013

Renée Jenkins, MD

President

American Academy of Pediatrics

Professor and Chair

Department of Pediatrics and Child Health

Howard University Hospital

2041 Georgia Ave, NW, Room 6B02

Washington, DC 20060

executivecommittee@aap.org

rjenkins@aap.org

Jay Berkelhamer, MD, FAAP

Past-President

American Academy of Pediatrics

Children’s Health Care of Atlanta

1600 Tullie Circle

Atlanta, GA 30329

Jay.Berkelhamer@choa.org

David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD

President-Elect

American Academy of Pediatrics

2706 Medical Office Place

Goldsboro, NC 27534

dtayloe@aap.org

Errol Alden, MD

Executive Director

American Academy of Pediatrics

141 Northwest Point Blvd,

Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

EAlden@aap.org

David Llewellyn, Esq.