[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: When in Rome...

Written by Jake at 23 Jun 2004 02:23:15:

As an answer to: When in Rome... written by Danalee at 23 Jun 2004 00:11:43:

>And, if circumcision has not been the policy in the U.K. in the past, why? (again without political overtones, just interested in the facts). Is it now? Thank you for your enlightened response.

The simple answer is that circumcision was, although not a policy as such, commonplace in the UK prior to the founding of the NHS and consequent cost cutting. This was in the late 1940s. Bear in mind that this country has massive waiting lists even for essential surgery - if one has to wait for a year or more for essential heart surgery, then preventative surgery (effective or not) such as circ doesn't have a chance. Circ is thus restricted to those who are able to pay for the surgery, nowadays, which ordinarily means the upper classes.

These days, routine circumcision in the UK is very rare indeed. It's hard to tell whether the trend is mirrored elsewhere, since reliable statistics are hard to obtain. Australia seems to be at about 12% and slowly rising. Parts of continental Europe are said to be at about 15-20%.


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