article_snippet: Women with vaginal piercings are to be classed as victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), health chiefs have said .
article_snippet: Women with vaginal piercings are to be classed as victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), health chiefs have said.
article_snippet: Under new NHS rules to be introduced next month, any woman whose labia or clitoris has been pierced must be recorded as suffering FGM, a procedure which is illegal in UK.
article_snippet: The new rules are in line with guidance from the World Health Organisation, which last year classified piercing as 'harmful procedures' that are considered under the bracket of FGM.
article_snippet: There is already much debate about whether genital surgery procedures such as so-called 'designer vagina' operations should be treated by as FGM.
article_snippet: Last week, MPs released a report which said police, midwives and campaigners remain confused over whether the operations fall within FGM laws.
article_snippet: Under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, it is illegal to cut girls' genitals unless there is a genuine justification.
article_snippet: The exemptions in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 refer to operations carried out on the grounds of physical or mental health and do not cover cosmetic surgery.
article_snippet: The Home Affairs Select Committee said the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 should be amended to reiterate that female genital cosmetic surgery on those who do not have a physical or mental health justification is potentially illegal.
article_snippet: Some 170,000 women and girls are estimated to be living with FGM in the UK.
article_snippet: More than 2,600 women and girls who went through FGM have been treated by the NHS since last September, with 499 women and girls with FGM seen in acute the NHS trusts in England in January alone.
article_snippet: More than 200 FGM-related cases were investigated by the police nationally in the past five years.
article_snippet: A Department of Health man said: 'While there are challenges in this area and adult women may have genital piercings, in some communities girls are forced to have there are challenges in this area and adult women.
article_snippet: The World Health Organisation has quite rightly defined this as a form of FGM. '
highlights_snippet: New NHS rules will apply to any woman whose labia or clitoris is pierced .
  
highlights_snippet: BUT critics say laws around 'designer vagina' surgery are ambiguous .