The Health Benefits of Routine Infant Toe Removal

Joseph Lewis offers a satire on routine infant circumcision by comparing it to amputating a toe. Here are some of the health benefits:

CLEANLINESS
Toenails are a pain to keep clean. They accumulate dirt, and they take time to trim. If not properly washed, toe jam can develop between the toes and the foot will give off an unpleasant odor.[...]

MAY REQUIRE AMPUTATION IN ADULTHOOD
If your family has a history of diabetes, you may wish to consider removing your children's toes. If your child gets diabetes, s/he may develop a condition called "hammertoe," where poor blood circulation causes the toes to become necrotic, becoming a gangrene hazard, not only for the toes themselves, but for the rest of the foot. It is such a common incident, and there is a danger that the wound(s) may not heal correctly, causing the entire foot to be gangrenous. I know of a few cases where the wounds did not heal, and the gangrene kept spreading. The patients had to undergo surgery after surgery, until the gangrene had left them with a stump up to their thigh. Some patients simply died in recovery.

Link via reddit | Photo by Flickr user treehouse1977 used under Creative Commons license

Previously: Foreskin Man Protects Baby Boys from Circumcision