Tara Klamp roll-out not suspended - DOH

No instruction to suspend use of Tara Klamp in mass circumcision drive

9 Dec 2010

Contrary to recent media reports, the Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has not given any instruction to anyone to discontinue the use of the Tara Klamp device in the medical male circumcision currently being conducted in the country.

Medical Male Circumcision (MMC) has been identified as one of the key interventions in the fight against HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Studies have shown that MMC can reduce the risk of infection by up to 60 percent.

The Department of Health would like to place it on record that the use of the Tara Klamp as a device to conduct MMC will continue while investigations are being conducted regarding other possible methods. The Department of Health also remains fully committed to the roll-out of medical male circumcision as policy and intervention in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Statement issued by Fidel Hadebe, Department of Health, December 9 2010

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The South African government has halted the rollout of a controversial male circumcision device, health department spokesman Fidel Hadebe said Wednesday. Hadebe said more research was needed into the plastic device, known as Tara Klamps, which has been used in the circumcisions of 9,000 South African men since April as part of an initiative to stop the spread of Aids. Treatment Action Campaign... welcomed the government's decision, calling the device dangerous and painful."

Associated Press, December 8 2010

 

Related links

Articles:

Tara KLamp (III): The WHO's lack of bravery »

Tara Klamp (II): What is the KZN govt up to? »

The Tara KLamp: Making money from mutilation (I) »

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responses to this article

perhaps you could export them to Cuba ... ... where they could be used to cut cigars. by Realist on December 09 2010, 20:56 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Voodoo There is nothing medical about these circumcisions. They are quackery. They are gratuitous mutilations. The whole "MMC" boondoggle road show is a scandal moving inexorably towards disaster, unless it can be exposed decisively and . .more quickly. . .less by Domza on December 10 2010, 06:42 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

A mantra "Studies have shown that MMC can reduce the risk of infection by up to 60 percent." This claim has become a mantra, but we still don't know why 21.8% of circumcised Swazi men have HIV, compared to "only" 19.5% of the non-circumcised men, and . .more similar ratios apply in at least six other African countries. All the claims rest like an inverted pyramid on 73 paid volunteers for circumcision. They are the difference between the 64 circumcised men (out of 5,400 in the three tirals) who got HIV and the 137 non-circumcised men. Meanwhile 673 men dropped out, their HIV status unknown, so who knows what the real effect of circumcision is - if any? And circumcision of non-consenting people, such as infants (who are at no risk of sexually tranmitted HIV for nearly two decades) is a human rights issue. . .less by Hugh7 on December 10 2010, 23:07 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Why us? Why now? Needless to say, a correlation is not a proof, and it does not follow from a correlation that the reversal of the circumstances will reverse the correlated phenomenon. How can such quackery then take hold? Actually, there is only . .more one country where, since the 19th Century, non-religious, bogusly-scientistic circumcision has existed as an industry and that is the USA. Consequently there is also a strong and articulate anti-circumcision lobby in the USA. The web site of Doctors Opposing Circumcision relates the history and gives a clear response to the latest fad of the circumcisionists, which is now to sell their voodoo outside the USA as being prophylactic to HIV/AIDS. So-called "MMC" is a US export, foisted upon the most politically backward country in Africa, Swaziland, and on KZN, at a time when in the USA itself the voodoo snipcocks are facing the extinction of their industry because of the vigilance of rational scientists. It is easy to see why this kind of charlatanry could invade Swaziland but South Africa should have been able to see it a mile off and stop it in its tracks. Unfortunately the TAC has degenerated to the point that it became the vehicle for the very kind of quackery that it had formerly so strongly opposed. . .less by Domza on December 11 2010, 06:08 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

"Studies have shown?" "Studies have shown" WHAT? The best the latest "studies" try to establish is a correlation, which dubious because the people writing the so-called "studies" happen to also be long-standing circumcision advocates (Bailey and Halperin not withstanding). The . .more "studies" were based on the hypothesis that the Langerhans cells are the prime point of entry for HIV. This hypothesis has been since debunked by DeWitte et al. Promoters of so-called "MMC" have absolutely no leg left to stand on. . .less by Joseph4GI on December 15 2010, 02:23 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

"MMC?" "MMC" stands for "medical male circumcision." But what is so "medical" about circumcising the healthy? Especially healthy, non-consenting individuals? Doctors also perform female circumcisions, known as "labiaplasties" in some circles. Is this then . .more "MFC?" Let's call the deliberate, permanent disfigurement of male anatomy what it is; male genital mutilation. It is genital mutilation, and so-called "researchers" are trying their hardest to medicalize it. An absolute disgrace. We would dare not couch female genital mutilation in pseudo-scientific terms. We would dare not consider female circumcision "studies." What an absolute disgrace that self-intested attempts to legitimize ritual genital mutilation is what passes for "research" nowadays. Imagine for a moment, "research" that tries to seek the "benefit" of other ritual abuse... The "benefits" of footbinding for example... breast ironing... neck stretching... when is the circumcision hoax going to be exposed for what it is? Enough with the quackery already!!! . .less by Joseph4GI on December 15 2010, 02:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

TaraKlamp should address problems at home first According to Malaysian AIDS Council vice-president Datuk Zaman Khan, more than 70% of the 87,710 HIV/AIDS sufferers in the country are Muslims. In Malaysia, most, if not all Muslim men are circumcised, whereas circumcision is uncommon in the non-Muslim . .more community. This means that HIV is spreading in the community where most men are circumcised at an even faster rate, than in the community where most men are intact. . .less by Joseph4GI on December 15 2010, 02:37 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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