The de Blasio administration will soon announce a new policy on metzitzah b'peh (MBP, the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis sucking done primarily by hasidic mohels after cutting of the the baby's foreskin), a spokesperson for the NYC mayor said this afternoon.
Above: Bill de Blasio speaking at the Satmar campaign rally in 2013 mentioned in the article
De Blasio To Change NYC Policy Toward Dangerous Haredi Circumcision Practice “Soon,” Staff Says
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The de Blasio administration will soon announce a new policy on metzitzah b'peh (MBP, the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis sucking done primarily by hasidic mohels after cutting of the the baby's foreskin), Capital NY reported this afternoon.
De Blasio spokeswoman Marti Adams reportedly said the new policy would soon be announced but did not detail what that new policy would be or when it would be announced. All she would say is the new policy would be more friendly to the haredi community than the policy of informed consent put in place by the Bloomberg administration is.
"The administration [of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio] is working to develop a new, more effective policy that protects children and protects religious rights in a way that the community is comfortable with, and accepting of, and will participate in. We expect to announce this new policy soon,” Adams reportedly said.
In 2014, four cases of MBP-transmitted neonatal herpes were reported to city heath authorities. Over the past decade, 17 cases have been reported, but for half of those years reporting was not mandatory. Babies have died from MBP-transmitted herpes and other have suffered permanent brain damage. Two very recent studies show that people who have herpes have double the risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease later in life.
Herpes can never be removed from the body. It goes through unpredictable stages of flareup and dormancy, neither of which are always clear cut. Herpes can be and often is transmitted to others, as well. When contracted by a neonate, the infection can be especially dangerous because very young babies have immature immune systems that cannot easily deal with the infection.
In exchange for Satmar's bloc vote, just days before the election in 2013 De Blasio promised the Satmar Aharon faction that he would eliminate Bloomberg's informed consent requirement if elected. The announcement of that deal was made in English over a loudspeaker in front of a large rally of Satmar hasidim by Aharon faction leader Rabbi Moshe Indig. De Blasio, who was standing less than five feet from Indig, did not deny the deal or otherwise attempt to modify Indig's claim.
Previous deals between the city and haredi leaders to report infected mohels to the city and to take other steps to mitigate the dangers of MBP were broken by haredi leaders, prompting the Bloomberg administration to inact the informed consent requirement in 2013. In response, the Williamsburg-based Central Rabbinical Congress, which is essentially controlled by Satmar, Agudath Israel of America, and several haredi mohels sued the city to try to force it drop the informed consent requirement.
The lawsuit is ongoing.
Related Posts:
A History Of MBP Disease Transmission.