Sunday, March 31, 2013

Circumcision & Foreskin: Did You Know?

 
Circumcision: Did you know?
  • No medical organization in the world, not even the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), recommends infant male circumcision.
  • At least 117 baby boys die from circumcision each year in the United States. (Death can occur from only 2.3 ounces of blood loss.)
  • You can watch a video of circumcision being performed on YouTube.  This will allow you to see the actual procedure first.
  • It's easier to care for a baby's intact penis than a circumcised one.  Don't retract the foreskin, just wipe the outside only -- like cleaning a finger.
  • Infant Circumcision removes a male's right to decide for himself whether no he wants to be circumcised.
  • Circumcision is medically unnecessary, risky, and extremely painful (even with anesthetic).
 
The Foreskin: Did You Know?
  • The majority of men in the world have a foreskin, and the rate of circumcision in the United States continues to fall each year  :-)
  • The male foreskin has more concentrated, specialized nerve endings than anywhere else in the human body. 
  • The foreskin needs no special care or cleaning.  Up until puberty (or later) the foreskin is fused to the penis and doesn't not need to be retracted to be cleaned.
  • The foreskin has important roles in sexual function and is the most sensitive part of the penis.
  • The card (graphic) above is equivalent in size to the amount of tissue missing from an adult's penis after circumcision. It represents 1/3 to 1/2 of the skin covering the normal penis (about 15 square inches or about the size of an index card).  That's a whole lot of sensitive skin to be senselessly cutting off.

March 26th -April 1st, 2013 is Genital Integrity Awareness Week.
Please consider sharing the information above with those who may not know.

Circumcision is Not a Parenting Choice

Source: DrMomma.org
"We Are Moms. We've made choices and maybe a few mistake. 
But we love and respect our children, every part of them. 
Our children have the right to bodily integrity.  
Circumcision is NOT a parenting choice."

Your child's body belongs solely to him or her. You do not own your child. Children are their own individual beings who deserve the same rights that should be afforded to all human beings. No rights of yours, parenting, religious or otherwise, should  ever supersede your child's rights to keep his or her body completely intact.  If your child, chooses to be circumcised as an adult that is his or her right, but as a parent you should never make that choice for your offspring.

March 26th -April 1st, 2013 is Genital Integrity Awareness Week.
Please consider sharing the information above with those who may not know.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Autism/Vaccine Connection

The CDC Now Admits 1 in 50 School Children with Autism . . .
One in Fifty!!! That's 2% of all American Children!
It's Time to Stop Ignoring the Vaccine Connection!


Sources: Health Impact News and VacTruth.com

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Genital Integrity Awareness Week


Genital Integrity Awareness Week 2013
20th Annual Demonstration / March Against Infant Circumcision
United States Capitol - Washington D.C.

March 26th - April 1st, 2013
US Capitol Demonstration
West Lawn of the US Capitol

Saturday, March 30th, 2013
March from the US Capitol to the White House
The march will begin at 2:00 pm



The foreskin is NOT a birth defect!  
Stop Infant Circumcision!

Monday, March 11, 2013

EU Bans Animal Testing for Cosmetics

Today, the European Union banned the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals. Both animal testing on EU soil and the sale of cosmetic products tested on animals are now illegal in the European Union. 

Since my early teens, I have believed that we, as consumers, have the responsibility to make informed decisions about our purchases and the power to vote with our dollars. I have always purposely avoided make-up and beauty products that were tested on animals, because animal testing is known to be not only ruthless and extremely cruel, but also ineffective, since animals often react completely differently than humans to the chemicals used.

I hope today's ban of animal testing in Europe will lead to further scientific exploration and global acceptance of more accurate, cruelty-free testing methods like testing on donated human tissue and cultures. These alternative methods have the potential to not only spare millions of animals from senseless torture each year, but also to save human cosmetic users from needless irritation and suffering. Compared to cosmetics tested on animals, the probability of cosmetics tested on donated human tissue having an adverse effect on users is greatly diminished. Tests done on human tissue are usually a better indicator of the effects of a chemical than tests performed on animals. Additionally, non-animal testing techniques are frequently less costly and bear results more rapidly than animal tests do, helping to keep prices down for buyers.

These days I actually make the vast majority of my beauty products at home in my own kitchen with products that are healthy, organic and usually safe enough to eat. However, the push for the beauty industry to stop animal testing has been one of my pet causes (no pun intended) for more than twenty years, so I am glad to see Europe take this step in the right direction and hope the rest of the world will soon follow suit.