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37
YEARS AGO
Routine circumcision called
into question
NEW YORK — "If a child can be taught to tie his
shoes or brush his teeth or wash behind his ears, he
can also be taught to wash beneath his foreskin," declared
Dr E Noel Preston in the New York Times. Dr Preston
is a prominent pediatrician who wrote an article in
the latest JAMA debunking the medical arguments
for routine circumcision of newborns. More than 80%
of North American baby boys get snipped, yet the procedure
is rarely performed (except for religious purposes)
in Western Europe. Dr Preston cited numerous studies
that show that infection and cancer were extremely rare
among uncut men with good hygiene practices. The prevention
of cancer and infection is the oft-stated rationale
behind secular circumcision. Source: The New York
Times, 21 September, 1970
 62
YEARS AGO
A-bomb after-effects kill
100 a day
HIROSHIMA — One month after the awesome destructive
force of the atom bomb was unleashed upon Hiroshima,
its death toll — an estimated 80,000-plus —
continues to rise precipitously. Japanese doctors report
that 100 people are dying each day in the decimated
city. Some physicians fear that all of the citizens
who were in Hiroshima on August 6th — the day of
the detonation — will eventually die of causes
related to the bomb's lingering after-effects. They've
already observed many patients who sustained only minor
injuries at the time of impact presenting with significant
white blood cell depletion and hair loss. In many cases,
they died. Source: The Globe and Mail, 5 September,
1945
140
YEARS AGO
Low-grade lime libation
fingered in scurvy outbreak
LONDON — Dr Harry Leach, the Resident Medical Officer
on the Hospital-ship Dreadnought, wishes to warn the
public that bad lime juice and greed are to blame for
the latest scurvy outbreak on the high seas. He notes
that scurvy cases are often seen concurrently on multiple
ships belonging to the same firm — and that these
firms often stock their ships with adulterated lime
juice. Dr Leach adds that the widely held view that
drunkenness is a major cause of scurvy is false. In
fact, he says, sailors who suffer from delirium tremens
were far less likely to show signs of scurvy. He argues
this is because the generously-stocked vessels that
these drunkards worked on tended to also carry bona
fide antiscorbutic-grade lime juice. Source: The
Times of London, 29 January, 1867
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