NY Health Board Votes Unanimously to Make It Mandatory for Rabbis to Seek Parental Permission for Circumcision

Despite threats from Jewish rabbis that they will be boycotting any such rules, the New York City Board of Health announced that it has unanimously voted in favor of a new regulation that makes it mandatory for the rabbis get consent from parents of circumcised boys when the process will involve direct oral suction.

According to the Health Department, the practice of cleaning the wound after circumcision by sucking the blood and spitting it away, also known as metzitzah b'peh, increases the risk of herpes simplex type 1 in the children with 11 cases being confirmed so far.

However the claim is being contested by rabbis who said that they will not be asking for any consent forms from parents for a tradition that has been in place for more than 3,000 years.

"We're not going to sign papers admitting that we are child murderers. We follow the tradition going back 3,000 years. Any surgeon in a hospital would be proud to have a record like us", Brooklyn's Rabbi William Handler said.

Source: Medindia