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At least 11 people have stumped up $1,000 (£684) each to buy a hyper-realistic sculpture of a human foreskin - designed to raise awareness about the "true cost" of male circumcision.

The artwork - called HUFO (Human Foreskin) has been created by Vincenzo Aiello, who believes that circumcision is an unnecessary mutilation that diminishes sexual pleasure later in life.

Whe he's not making art, Aiello is also the founder of Foregen, an organisation that plans to use stem cell technology to regrow foreskins lost through circumcision.

HUFO is being sold through crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to raise money for Foregen research. And so far, 11 people have forked out for the silicone sculpture. But who are they?

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"There are a lot of people who are waiting to have foreskin regeneration. Most of them I know already as they’ve already contacted us in private,” Aiello told Mirror Online.

"All the people that are interested in [foreskin regeneration] feel they've been cut without good reason and without consent," he said.

One supporter of the project, called Lawrence, described it as a "fantastic idea", adding: "Genitally mutilating men without informed consent should be illegal. It is a human rights abuse, just like female genital mutilation. It is not a medical procedure, it is an ancient blood sacrifice intended to suppress male sexuality. It destroyed my life."

Another, Kyle, said: "The success of Foregen will ensure that my one dream will become a reality. The dream to be an intact and natural man!"

More than 130 people have supported the crowd funding campaign, with others pledging anywhere between $10 and $10,000 to the cause. Aiello is hoping to raise at least $40,000, and has already raised more than $35,000.

The foreskin sculptures themselves have been designed after extensive research by Aiello.

He scoured text books, urology videos and anatomical drawings, and he was shocked by the amount of tissue that is affected by circumcision. "I never considered the fact that it’s a bi-layer piece of skin," he said.

Aiello made a clay penis and started to cover it with early prototypes of HUFO.

Once the shape was finalised, he created a relief sculpture - a mould that could be filled with silicone and resin.

“Then I started to work with silicone and resin and painted the blood vessels nerve endings, frenulum… all the different details.”

The money raised through the project will go towards an experiment to build a biological scaffold onto which stem cells can be transplanted in order to build a new foreskin.

“I want to spread awareness. Millions of men are circumcised without a reason," he said.

You can support Foregen and HUFO on the Kickstarter page.