Circumcision kits have been found on sale on Amazon UK, highlighting lax regulation as concerns grow about deaths and serious harm to baby boys.
In December, a UK coroner issued warnings about insufficient circumcision regulation after the death in 2023 of a six-month-old boy, Mohamed Abdisamad, from a streptococcus infection.
In a prevention of future deaths report, Dr Anton van Dellen, assistant coroner for west London, highlighted how “any individual may conduct a non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC) without any prior training”, with “no requirement for any infection control measures [and] no requirements for any aftercare”, adding that “action should be taken to prevent future deaths”.
The Department of Health and Social Care has until the end of February to respond.
The Guardian found “Plastibell” kits, in various sizes, on sale for £200 on Amazon in January. A listing on the site promised “a circumcision procedure which requires no special post-operative care or dressing [which] means a significant saving in both time and money”.
It added: “The disposable PlastiBell circumcision device eliminates the need for the repetitive and costly sterilisation required for stainless steel clamps … No special dressings required.” Similar devices were on sale on eBay.
Non-therapeutic male circumcision is customary in African, Jewish and Muslim traditions and legal in the UK.
Religious or cultural circumcision can be funded by the NHS in Scotland as long as doctors are satisfied the operation is in the child’s best interests and carried out between six and nine months old, in hospital, by trained paediatric surgeons under general anaesthesia.
In the rest of the UK, non-therapeutic male circumcision is generally a private procedure, raising concerns children can be put at risk by rogue operators.
The African and Caribbean Health Network, Progressive Judaism and the British Muslim Council have supported the coroner’s call for tougher regulation. However, the reproductive rights campaigner Dr Rebecca Steinfeld says that since female genital mutilation is banned, boys should receive the same safeguarding protection.
Since 2001, there have been seven deaths of boys under 18 where circumcision was a factor.
On Saturday, the Guardian reported that draft guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) classes circumcision as a potential crime. The CPS said while circumcision was legal and “for many, a safe and celebrated tradition”, it had recently prosecuted cases of “significant harm” and that “rigorous scrutiny” and “extensive consultation with different communities” was being carried out before the guidance was finalised and brought into force.
Lord Scriven, the Liberal Democrat peer who has repeatedly raised concerns in parliament about lax regulation, said: “Parliament needs to think about how it can defend a system where a tattooist requires a licence and a sterilised studio to carry out a tattoo, but a person carrying out genital surgery on a baby boy doesn’t.
“A cross-departmental government taskforce is required to create a unified national safeguarding standard and the definition of a regulated activity under the Health and Social Care Act needs to include all forms of genital cutting. Legislation is required to make it an offence for a non-registered healthcare professional to perform surgical circumcision. The fact you can buy these kits readily online shows why the law is an ass.”
Amazon, which removed circumcision training kits from sale in 2017, said it was taking action again.
A spokesperson said: “We require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws, regulations and Amazon policies. We have strict policies and guidelines for the sale of medical devices and we prohibit the sale of professional-use-only medical devices. The items in question have been removed.”
eBay was approached for comment.
