Drawn from over 200 unread emails, this edition of the digest contains some old stuff. I've apparently become mostly a link archive and chronicler rather than a full-on blogger or commentator. I suppose that's ok. With some very good generalists out there posting here and here, I'm not too worried that the world lacks intelligent commentary on HIV or circumcision.
True to medical norms (and form)
From the mailbag of a year ago comes this scan of a nursing article [pdf] in the print version of RN magazine that addresses newborm circumcision with zero discussion of ethics. True to form in the medical field, nurses are given decontextualized information, much of it incorrect, without the slightest guidance as to whether the procedure is warranted. Nurses are expected, one could conclude from the article, to follow doctors' orders or to accede to the wishes of parents no matter how misguided or in contravention of the Hippocratic oath to do no harm.
Conflicts of interest plague medical device and pharmaceutical field
Much like the rest of American society and government, conflicts of interest have grown steadily more common in the medical field, concludes the National Institutes of Medicine Health. Intactivists, of course, have long known of the corrupting influence of money. ScienceNews.org reports:
The pharmaceutical and biomedical-devices industry preferentially targets the most senior medical researchers — especially ones who publish prolifically — in its efforts to influence what information is collected, whether it is published, and how it will be portrayed (as in spun). Or so concludes a new National Institutes of Health-funded study that surveyed researchers from the 33 U.S. universities receiving the most funding for biomedical and clinical studies.
Link: Industry Attempts to Influence Medical Care
Good money and effort after bad?
Musitwa of the Muslim Youth League says recent researches (sic) showing circumcision helps to protect men from HIV infection has confused some Muslims to go on rampage having multiple sexual relationships without any protection hoping that they are safe because of being circumcised.
He says the campaign will among others convince Muslims that circumcision is not a guaranteed protection against HIV infection.
Link: Uganda Health News: Muslim youth launch campaign against HIV/AIDS [and circumcision misperceptions]
John Travis speaks to KindredMedia.com.au viz the new push to circumcision
Apologies to John Travis and Kindred Media. This comes from an email dated June of 2009.
At the risk of multimedia overload, Dr. Travis is further interviewed in the video below.
More to come ...
