Abraham Wolbarst
Abraham Leo Wolbarst (1872 – 1952)[1] was an American physician.
A Jewish American physician, Wolbarst was a promoter of universal circumcision for boys, which he famously claimed prevented penile cancer due to the accumulation of smegma in uncircumcised males, which he believed to be carcinogenic. While the specific arguments related to smegma have largely been refuted,[2][3][4][5] it remains the case that childhood/adolescent circumcision is protective against invasive penile cancer.[6] He also claimed that epilepsy was caused by a tight foreskin in uncircumcised males.[5]
Outside of his work on male circumcision, Wolbarst was a member of the Euthanasia Society of America, wherein he promoted the killing of individuals with health defects, who he believed were a financial burden on society.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "Wolbarst, A. L. (Abraham Leo), 1872-1952". archives.cjh.org. Center for Jewish History ArchivesSpace. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Penile Carcinoma in Circumcised Males". New York State Journal of Medicine. 79 (12): 1903–1904. November 1979. PMID 292845.
- ^ Williams, Brian G.; Lloyd-Smith, James O.; Gouws, Eleanor; Hankins, Catherine; Getz, Wayne M.; Hargrove, John; Zoysa, Isabelle de; Dye, Christopher; Auvert, Bertran (11 July 2006). "The Potential Impact of Male Circumcision on HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa". PLOS Medicine. 3 (7): e262. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030262. ISSN 1549-1676. PMC 1489185. PMID 16822094.
- ^ Glick, Leonard B. (1 July 2005). "'This Little Operation': Jewish American Physicians and Twentieth-Century Circumcision Advocacy". Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America. Oxford University Press: 179–214. doi:10.1093/019517674x.003.0008.
- ^ a b Denniston, George C.; Milos, Marilyn Fayre (30 April 1997). Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-0-306-45589-6.
- ^ Larke, Natasha L.; Thomas, Sara L.; dos Santos Silva, Isabel; Weiss, Helen A. (August 2011). "Male circumcision and penile cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis". Cancer Causes & Control. 22 (8): 1097–1110. doi:10.1007/s10552-011-9785-9. PMC 3139859.
- ^ Gorsuch, Neil M. (23 March 2009). The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. Princeton University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-1-4008-3034-3.
External links
[edit]- Gonorrhea in the male - a practical guide to its treatment (Wikimedia Commons PDF, authored by Wolbarst)