<b>Circumcision Health Benefits Outweigh Risks, Says Pediatrics Association.</b>

The American Academy of Pediatrics moved closer to an endorsement of circumcision in newborn boys. In its latest policy statement, published in the journal <i>Pediatrics</i>, the organization says: “The benefits of newborn male circumcision justify access to this procedure for those families who choose it, and it should be paid by insurance.”

This is a major about-face for the academy, which in 1999, found no clear evidence for supporting circumcision. That position was reaffirmed in 2005. Research changed the minds of the academy’s policymakers. So did a lot of data.

Circumcised infants are less likely to develop a urinary tract infection, and they are less likely, later in life, to become infected from sexually transmitted diseases, including heterosexual HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes and other infectious genital ulcers. They are also less likely to develop penile cancer.

Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin on the tip of the penis.