New York City’s newly appointed Commissioner of Health Dr. Mary Travis Bassett said today that the city’s informed consent requirement for metzitzah b’peh (MBP – the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis suction done by haredi mohels immediately after removing the baby’s foreskin and the membrane beneath it) will remain in place.

New NYC Commissioner Of Health Says Circumcision Informed Consent Requirement Will Remain In Place

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com



New York City’s newly appointed Commissioner of Health Dr. Mary Travis Bassett said today that the city’s informed consent requirement for metzitzah b’peh (MBP – the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis suction done by haredi mohels immediately after removing the baby’s foreskin and the membrane beneath it) will remain in place.



"The intention is to keep that in place,” Basset reportedly said.



Bassett was deputy commissioner of health under the previous administration of Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg.



During Bloomberg's 12-years as mayor he banned smoking in bars and restaurants, trans-fats in restaurant food, and compelled national fast food and chain restaurants to post calorie information for all their menu items. Bassett reportedly oversaw all those campaigns.

Haredi groups have sued the city to have the requirement ended, but have so far been unsuccessful in court.

A Satmar faction announced during the mayoral election that de Blasio had promised to remove the requirement in exchange for their votes – a claim de Blasio later said was false, even though it was made in English on a public address system in front of hundreds of hasidim by a leader of that Satmar faction who was standing only five feet from de Blasio when he made it.