The view that circumcision is a safeguard against some forms of cancer and venereal disease was offered by Dr. Abraham Ravich of Florida, at the American Medical Association convention held here.
Dr. Ravich said that in 35 years of practice in Brooklyn he found a low rate of incidence of cancer of the cervix, prostate gland, bladder, penis and vagina among Jews as opposed to a much higher rate found among Gentiles, Dr. Ravich attributed this fact to the Jewish practice of circumcision.
Dr. Ravich told the JTA that he plans to approach the United Nations and the World Health Organization with a proposal to institute a worldwide educational program on circumcision which, he feels, will save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. This is the estimated number of people who die annually from cancer of the genitourinary tract.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
