Adam Jacobs 🇺🇦

Well, looks like some of RFK Jr's crazy anti-science stuff might actually do more good than harm for once: circumcision causes autism.

It doesn't, of course, but if people want to believe it, then OK. Circumcision (aka male genital mutilation) is a barbaric practice and really should be outlawed for anyone too young to give properly informed consent.

(Spoiler alert: infants are too young to give properly informed consent)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/21/fact-checking-rfk-jrs-false-claim-linking-autism-to-circumcision

#RFKJR #Circumcision #MaleGenitalMutilation

Fact-checking RFK Jr’s false claim linking autism to circumcision

The US health secretary’s claims are false, as research finds no clear connection between circumcision and autism.

Al Jazeera
Oct 21, 2025 at 2:10pmWeb
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Oct 21, 2025
@statsguy it really is obscene how male genital mutilation is normalised and ignored.
Show threadAlisonW ♿🏳️‍🌈♾️Oct 21, 2025
@statsguy
Show threadMarjorieROct 21, 2025
@statsguy Isn't RFK Jnr's idea not to stop male genital mutilation (circumcision) as such but simply not to let the mutilated infant have any painkillers (Tylenol).
Show threadAdam Jacobs 🇺🇦Oct 21, 2025

@marjolica Oh, that would make sense, yes. I thought it seemed too good to be true that he might actually come up with some crazy lie that would actually help people.

I guess he'll come up with some nonsense about how it's "character-building" to have part of your knob chopped off with no analgesia or something like that.

Show threadHugh Young-BishOct 21, 2025
@statsguy
Your "It doesn't, of course" dismisses some careful, large-scale research by respected and established scientists. Did you read the paper?
http:www.circumstitions.com/Docs/frisch-autism.pdf
It finds a correlation and urges further study.
Of course nobody is saying every cut boy becomes autistic, but we know that cut boys react to the pain of vaccination differently from intact boys months later, so who can say that the trauma of having the most sensitive part of his pen¡s cut off, often with no analgesia, as one of his earliest extra-uterine experiences, has NO effect on brain function?
Show threadAdam Jacobs 🇺🇦Oct 21, 2025

@hugh You say "careful" research, this accompanying editorial and this systematic review say "flawed".

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0141076815590404
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jebm.12482

Show threadHugh Young-BishOct 21, 2025
@statsguy
Brian Morris is a well-known fanatic who has never seen a reason for male genital cutting he didn't like, including "to prevent bathroom splatter" and "to protect against zipper injury".
http://www.circumstitions.com/morris.html
He is a retired molecular biologist, not a doctor or an ethicist, unfortunately respected for good work in an unrelated field.
Rebuttal to Brian Morris

Rebuttal to Brian Morris, detailing the inaccuracy of his claims about circumcision.

Show threadAdam Jacobs 🇺🇦Oct 21, 2025
@hugh There are some excellent reasons to disapprove of male genital mutilation. It's just that the autism risk isn't one of them.
Show threadHugh Young-BishOct 21, 2025

@statsguy
Yes, there are:
https://www.circumstitions.com/reasonsnotto.html

Maybe autism isn't one of them (contrary to your OP) but don't dismiss Frisch's study just because Brian Morris says to.

Good Reasons Not to Circumcise:

Show threadAdam Jacobs 🇺🇦Oct 21, 2025
@hugh I don't. I dismiss it because it's biologically implausible (autism is largely genetically determined), it is based on small numbers, and there is massive potential for unmeasured confounders.
Show threadHugh Young-BishOct 23, 2025
@statsguy
"largely"
So there are other factors than genetics.
It it not at least plausible that neonatal trauma is among those other factors?
Have you read the paper?
http://circumstitions.com/Docs/frisch-autism.pdf
Frisch is rigorous.
Small numbers?
A total of 342,877 boys
A total of 4986 ASD cases,
Yes, "only" 57 cut boys had ASD because ASD is rare and cutting is rare in Denmark but
"Regardless of cultural background circumcised boys
were more likely than intact boys to develop ASD before
age 10 years (HR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.11–1.93)."
Show threadAdam Jacobs 🇺🇦Oct 23, 2025

@hugh I have read the paper. It's not particularly convincing. The results weren't robust to the subgroup analyses by age. And the potential for confounding is enormous.

And yes, only 57 cut boys with autism. Their total size was large, but the size of that cell is kind of important.

This is not to say that Frisch et al necessarily did anything wrong. It's just really difficult to get convincing results from that kind of study.

Show threadAdam Jacobs 🇺🇦Oct 23, 2025
@hugh And the heritability of ASD is about 80-90%, so it's not ever so plausible that any environmental factors would have more than a tiny impact.
Show threadHugh Young-BishOct 25, 2025
@statsguy "Heritability" doesn't mean what you think it means. It's not either/or and the effects of infant male genital cutting and all other causal factors don't have to fit into the 10%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability
Heritability - Wikipedia

Show threadHugh Young-BishOct 25, 2025

@statsguy
"The results weren't robust to the subgroup analyses by age. "
Of course if you break a strong effect down into subgroups, it seems weaker. This is a common tactic of the opponents of any claim. Are you still relying on Morris? Please cite your other source.

Frisch was particularly careful to deal with confounders: There are more than two pages discussing the study's weaknesses, yet the conclusion is:

"Ritual circumcision among Danish boys is linked to an overall 46–62% increase in ASD risk in the first 10 years of life, with the upper risk estimate obtained after restriction to the period with the most complete data. More strikingly, risk was 80–83% increased in the first 0–4 years of life, an increase that was restricted to infantile autism. Non-therapeutic circumcision is uncommon in Denmark outside Jewish and Muslim communities, but due to our study’s national coverage over two decades (1994–2013), findings were based on fairly solid numbers, and a series of robustness analyses confirmed the main findings."

Yes, only 57 because as I said, autism is rare in general and infant male genital cutting is rare in Denmark. If only someone not themselves part of a cutting culture would do a similar study in the USA!