Brendon Marotta

Archives for November 2019

PEPFAR To Experiment On African Children With The ShangRing

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The draft of PEPFAR’s new guidelines includes a number of bombshells, among them:

  • PEPFAR is considering ending their infant circumcision program due to their high botch rate
  • PEPFAR used the Mogen clamp, a circumcision devices sued out of business for causing botches

However, their draft contains a new plan that could cause additional harm.

PEPFAR is planning to use the ShangRing for future circumcisions – and testing on African populations to find out what the botch rate is.

From the guidelines:

While confirmation of age can be difficult, VMMC should not be performed in adolescents under age 15 in the absence of Tanner stage 3 of development.54 Programs may propose exceptions to the new age policy for the routine use of only the ShangRing device in adolescents aged 10-14 years/below Tanner stage 4. These must include plans for long-term enhanced safety monitoring in this group with complete followup within 14 days, recognizing that very large volumes may be needed to identify any increased risks. The ShangRing mechanism may protect against risks of glans injury and fistula for immature genitalia, but sufficient volumes have not yet been done in VMMC settings to rule out other injury risks in young adolescents that may be similarly uncommon, especially during the device’s in situ period.

In other words, PEPFAR is proposing testing a medical device on millions of African children to find out if it causes errors.

“Very large volumes may be needed to identify any increased risks” is an INSANE statement.

The way to find out if a medical device is safe is not to experiment on millions of African children.

Ring devices are known to be unsafe. A pediatric urologist in my documentary American Circumcision, who does both circumcision and botch repair, said he regularly sees damage from these types of devices and believes they should not be on the market.

You don’t need to botch millions of children to find out if your medical device known to cause botches will cause botches!

Why would PEPFAR adopt this unsafe device and use African children as human test subjects?

How Circumcision Device Manufacturers Profit

Yale academic Brian Earp has multiple threads exposing how circumcision device creators are writing the medical literature on circumcision:

Circumcision device creators have written policy before, and wouldn’t you know it – the policy they write says you should buy their device.

If you make a circumcision device, which is cheaper?

  • Paying for medical trials
  • Getting paid to test your device on children

Yes – this is clearly human experimentation.

Even if you are pro-circumcision, you should be able to see that testing medical devices on children to find out if they are safe is not okay.

However, this is PEPFARs plan.

The ShangRing Is More Profitable

The ShangRing is a single use device.

If you buy a Mogen clamp (the previous device used by PEPFAR, which was sued out of business due to it’s high botch rate), you can use one device on thousands of children.

With the ShangRing, you have to buy a new one for each child.

One sale versus millions of sales. Which is more profit?

Is ShangRing Being Tested For China?

The ShangRing manufacturer is the one pushing for circumcision in China:

Every company is trying to break into the Chinese market.

Being the preferred circumcision device of PEPFAR and tested on millions of Africans is quite a selling point.

Could this new policy draft be setting up the ShangRing for the Chinese market?

There Is Still Time For Public Comment

PEPFAR guidelines to use the ShangRing are only a draft, and still open for public comment until December 13.

PEPFAR says on their website: “Your comments on the guidance are welcome and encouraged, and it is recommended that you are as specific as possible when submitting feedback.”

Please leave a comment regarding section “6.2.5.1. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision” saying that PEPFAR should not use the ShangRing, and testing on African children is to discover the botch rate of the ShangRing is a clearly human experimentation and a human rights violation.

You can leave a respectful, well-thought-out comment here:

https://www.state.gov/pepfar-cop-20-plan-guidance-public-comment

Read my previous post on this issue: PEPFAR Plans To End Infant Circumcision Campaign In Africa

How Teal’s Video On Friendzoning People Helped Me Get Engaged

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In this video, Teal Swan describes how to stay friends with someone after a breakup:

Ironically, this video gave me a realization that helped me align to marriage.

In the video, Teal suggests taking the other person as a part of yourself and making their needs a part of the process.

For example, if you break up with someone, are still friends with them, and want to go on a date with someone new, you might share that desire with your former partner and see what they need to feel okay with you doing that.

This approach treats going from relationship to friendship not as a “breakup” but as a transition. You are still in connection with the other person, but now you just have different roles and are fulfilling different needs.

Watching this, I realized this approach to transitions applied not just to transitioning to less romantic relationships, but to transitioning to more romantic relationships.

The transition from relationship to friendship is not as big a transition as relationship to marriage or even married to married with kids. (In fact, married to married with kids might be the biggest transition of all.)

What makes the transition safe is making all needs of each person a part of it, and moving at a pace that feels safe.

The way I explained it to my now fiance is that I wanted the same safety and care in our transition to marriage or having kids as she would want me to have if we were breaking up and trying to stay friends. (She got it, which is part of the reason I picked her.)

My own fear was that in transitioning one of my needs would get dropped in the process. However, if all of our needs are made a part of change, we are both comfortable transitioning to whatever relationship serves us together.

All relationships transition. Even relationships where the title does not change like parent and child will be different when the child is an infant vs. when the child leaves for school or work.

I recommend watching this video and using this technique even if you are not planning on breaking up or getting married.

This approach is useful regardless of your relationship status (even single to friends with benefits is a transition) and could also be applied to business relationships (a promotion, hiring, firing, or starting a business with someone are all transitions).

P.S. You can watch my proposal here.

 

PEPFAR Plans To End Infant Circumcision Campaign In Africa

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PEPFAR plans to end their support of infant circumcision.

PEPFAR 2020 Country Operational Plan Guidance for all PEPFAR Countries

Background: PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) has used millions of tax dollars in a campaign to circumcise Africa under the guise of reducing HIV risks, based on some very controversial studies.

(For more on this, watch my film American Circumcision, in which we interview both the authors of those studies and their critics.)

PEPFAR 2020 Country Operational Plan Guidance

The draft of their 2020 Country Operational Plan
Guidance says they are ending their support of infant circumcision due to a high rate of “adverse events” and circumcision complications.

In the plan, they admit to using the Mogen clamp, a circumcision device sued out of business for its high botch rate. (I cover that legal case in my documentary American Circumcision.)

These are children who will have to go through their entire lives with damaged genitals. PEPFAR used a device known to cause errors on a massive scale.

PEPFAR claims to have done 22.8 million circumcisions.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave 40 million of your tax dollars to this program.

Ending this program would be good on multiple levels.

However, these guidelines are only a draft, and still open for public comment until December 13.

Suggestion For Public Comment

PEPFAR is making the right decision to end their infant circumcision campaign.

Do not do or say anything that would cause them to re-think that decision.

However, there is room for public comment…

PEPFAR says on their website: “Your comments on the guidance are welcome and encouraged, and it is recommended that you are as specific as possible when submitting feedback.”

Meaning: PEPFAR will not read your long philosophical rant. They may not even be interested in public comments at all, and their request for comments is only a formality.

However, they might read a SPECIFIC comment on a SPECIFIC part, with a SPECIFIC suggestion.

If you leave a comment, I would suggest:

  • Say you support PEPFAR’s decision to stop performing infant circumcision
  • Ask for MORE DATA on adverse events

I believe we have the right to the full data. How many adverse events were there? What types of adverse events? To what age children? With what device?

The current draft does not give the exact percentage or number of adverse events. It simple says that it was significant enough for them to stop their infant circumcision campaign.

What is a high percentage botches for 22.8 million circumcisions? At even a 1% botch rate, that is 200,000 sexually damaged children.

Remember, millions of American tax dollars were used to circumcise African children with a device known to cause errors and damage, and it resulted in a such a high rate of adverse events that PEPFAR is now considering ending the program.

I believe the public has a right to know the full results of PEPFAR’s actions.

You can leave a respectful, well-thought-out comment here:

If you want to learn more about this issue, watch my documentary American Circumcision.

I Proposed To My Girlfriend

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I have some personal news to share:

I asked my girlfriend Kristeena to marry me. She said yes.

The Proposal

Kristeena and I practice a healing method called the Completion Process. During this process, there is a visualization where you create a safe space or “safe haven” that feels good to you. Kristeena’s safe haven has otters in it.

Kristeena loves otters. She will sometimes tear up if she thinks about them too much, because of how cute they are. During one process, we actually created a shared safe haven that had elements of a classroom where she and I could learn together and she brought her otters there.

This week we were visiting Denver. I set up a private meet and greet at the Denver Aquarium with their otters. The space where you do the meet and greet resembles the shared safe haven Kristeena and I created. I made it a point to let her know that I was bringing her into that space so she would feel the same safety with me.

Once we were there, one of the trainers placed a box on the ground I’d given them and had the otter move it’s nose up to the box and push it towards Kristeena. When the otter moved away, I picked up the box, opened it, and said “I think this is a gift for you” revealing the velvet ring box inside.

I got down on one knee and proposed. She was shaking a bit, overwhelmed. I took her hand. The camera didn’t catch the audio too well, but this is what I said:

“I love you. When I first met you, I said I wanted to take ownership of you – to take you as a part of me, and me as a part of you. Now, I’d like to complete that by asking you: Kristeena, will you marry me?”

I opened the ring box, and she said yes.

The proposal happened at 1:11pm on 11/11 – Kristeena’s favorite date. Kristeena was so excited she reached for the ring and put it on the moment I asked her to marry me. She reached out and hugged me, collapsing against me. I stood up, held her, and kissed her. She was overwhelmed with joy.

Brendon and Kristeena

More to come. Follow me on social @bdmarotta.