The haredi umbrella organization Agudath Israel of America intends to
sue New York City if the city’s Board of Health passes a proposed
law that would require mohels to get informed consent from parents of
infants who will undergo metztizah b’peh (MBP), the direct
mouth-too-bleeding penis suction done by mohels immediately after
removing the baby’s foreskin.
Agudah To Sue City Over Penis Sucking Ritual
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Writing in the Jewish Week, Hella Winston exclusively reports that the haredi umbrella organization Agudath Israel of America intends to sue New York City if the city’s Board of Health passes a proposed law that would require mohels to get informed consent from parents of infants who will undergo metztizah b’peh (MBP), the direct mouth-too-bleeding penis suction done by mohels immediately after removing the baby’s foreskin.
The proposed informed consent document explains the risks of MBP to parents – risks that include infection with the herpes virus, brain damage and death.
Agudah is reportedly trying to find a New York law firm to work pro bono or on “a reduced rate basis” to bring “a lawsuit against the City of New York to prevent the City from issuing a regulation that would require written parental consent for an aspect of bris milah (‘metzitzah b’peh’).”
“The lawsuit would argue that this regulation is unconstitutional on the grounds that it interferes with both freedom of religion and freedom of speech (the latter, because it requires the mohel to distribute certain information to parents.)”, an email, apparently sent by Agudah’s counsel Mordechai Biser reads. “We are concerned that if this regulation goes into effect the next step will be further regulation of bris milah,” Biser wrote.
Last week, Agudath Israel’s executive vice president, Rabbi David Zwiebel, wrote Mayor Michael Bloomberg and asked him to postpone the Board of Health vote scheduled for Thursday. In that letter, which was also signed by Agudah’s chairman Rabbi Gedaliah Weinberger, Zwiebel objected to language in city educational material that called on mohels to wear sterile gloves during the circumcision. “[M]any segments of the Jewish community follow a religious tradition that the mohel may not wear gloves when performing the bris,” Zwiebel wrote.
Winston reports that the mayor’s spokesperson, Samantha Levine, said that vote will likely proceed Thursday as planned.
“There is no safe way to perform oral suction on any open wound in a newborn” and noting that “[l]eading medical authorities have also identified these serious risks. Ultimately, the City’s highest obligation is to protect its children,” Levine wrote in an email to Winston. “Therefore,” she wrote, “it is important that parents know the risks associated with the practice.”
In a letter to Bloomberg dated yesterday, Dr. Jonathan Zenilman, chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at Johns Hopkins Bayview, professor of medicine and past president of American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association, reportedly accused Agudath Israel of America of “doing a terrible disservice to the Jewish Community and the public at large…”
Zenilman wrote that:
…The Agudah’s letter ignores the scientific facts.
The clinical and epidemiological data are incontrovertible. Metzisa b’peh is a known and recognized risk factor for transmission of herpes. The NYCDOH study was published by the CDC in the official publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Before being published, these studies go through multiple layers of rigorous statistical and epidemiological review, performed by highly experienced scientists uninvolved with the study.
In the infectious diseases community, there is no doubt that MBP carries risk. There is unanimous consensus among leaders in the herpes field and among leaders in the infectious diseases community who study these infections that MBP has been associated with HSV transmission.
The studies if anything, actually underestimate the risk, and represent only data that is obtained from New York, where the disease is reportable. A standard epidemiological concept is that reports of cases almost always are underestimates. Furthermore, there are very few places in the United States where neonatal herpes is reportable, and therefore data are not available from other communities where MBP may be widely practiced.
The Agudah’s letter suggests that even a low rate of MBP-related HSV infections (estimated at 1/4098) is acceptable. The complications of neonatal herpes are severe and include death, critical illness, delayed cognitive development and neurological complications. This acceptance of an avoidable risk, even when low, contradicts any applicable modern standard of care, modern public health practice, and can even be considered as unethical.
The Agudah’s objective is to clearly transmit the perception of doubt, and to use that doubt to impact public health policy. The Agudah’s position is irresponsible from the standpoint of children’s health, and supports a practice which puts children at risk.
The Agudah has framed their letter as a request to you to override the Health Department’s carefully considered policy position. Essentially, this is a request for political interference in public health practice, and political interference with a policy which has been based on careful science and has been focused on preventing a life threatening infection.
The Agudah and other Haredi publications has framed this as a “religious freedom” issue. Nothing can be further from the truth. When children’s health and safety is involved, the government does have a compelling interest and responsibility to regulate.
Related Post: Agudah Tells Mayor It Objects To Mohels Wearing Sterile Surgical Gloves.