On today’s Moncrieff, Sean talks to Eric Clopper, spokesman for a group of scientists at the forefront of a new technology which claims to allow men to regrow their circumcised foreskins.
Tune in live at 2.30pm: http://www.newstalk.com/player/
Male circumcision has come under a lot of scrutiny in the US of late, with the operation conducted on infants and young boys who are unable to give their consent.
While the practice goes back thousands of years and is considered an essential part of some religious faiths, including both Islam and Judaism. It is also an accepted cultural norm for men in North America, and some studies have found potential fall in instances of sexually transmitted diseases when men undergo the procedure.
But it not without controversy, with medical bodies in northern and central Europe, as well as Australia, criticising circumcision, saying it reduces sensitivity and causes psychological damage to young boys without any pressing benefits.
But now a growing movement of adult men whose foreskins were removed might now be able to regrow them.
ForeGen is a not-for-profit body that was founded on the principle to “research and implement regenerative medical therapies for circumcised males.” The organisation has said it will soon be launching a Kickstarter campaign to crowd source funds to continue their its research into foreskin regrowth.
On the ForeGen website, the body claims it requires $3m (€2.8m) to cover the three-years research they believe will be required to perfect the process of foreskin regeneration.
“In the short term, we hope to fully regenerate human foreskins,” ForeGen says. “Once we have accomplished that, our goal is to advance onto human clinical trials as soon as it is safe to do so.”
The science of regenerating the skin worked by creating an extra-cellular matrix for tissue cultures, which can be turned into a fully functioning and sensitive foreskin through stem-cell technology.
This regeneration is somewhat pioneering, as so far other researchers have been only partially able to rebuild breast and vaginal tissue cultures. ForeGen says it has already experimented on animals and have started the process of recreating bull foreskins.
