NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Chasidim take offence at lottery ad

COLLive
February 7, 2013

Ad Uses Chassidim to Poke Fun

By COLlive reporter

A new commercial for the New York Lottery, using humor and exaggeration to portray what money can buy a lucky Powerball winner, might have pushed the line.

The TV spot, created by DDB New York ad agency, shows a man who has the perfect punch lines for any scenario, leaving people laughing hysterically wherever he goes.

In truth, the millionaire has employed a full-time team of comedy writers who feed him the jokes through an earpiece. He is "that kind of rich," the ad suggests.

One of the millionaire's punchlines is told to a group of Chassidic looking Jews seated in a deli.

"You're the herpetologist," the man tells them from a nearby eating booth, leading them to burst out in laughter.


A COLlive reader said it seemed like they were referring to the ongoing battle between the City of New York and the frum community over a custom of the bris milah (circumcision ceremony).

The City's Board of Health ["along with hundreds of the top infectious disease specialists and other public health specialists, including the US Centers for Disease Control and two major Israeli studies, one released in the past few days – but COLLive tells readers none of that" - thanks to Failed Messiah] says metzitzah b'peh (oral suction during the bris) can lead to fatal herpes infection. Rabbis and mohelim say there is no evidence to support that claim.

"This is no laughing matter and it's even frightening that the government is trying to regulate religious practice," Rabbi Levi Heber, the director of the International Bris Association, said in response to the Lottery commercial.

Speaking to COLlive, Heber said: "It's very unfortunate that people are not taking this matter seriously. The City's meddling in our rituals reminds many of Communist Russia. What's most ironic is that in Russia today Jews are more free to practice this mitzvah than in Brooklyn."

But what might be even more ironic is that the ad agency has mistakenly [or deliberately] used the term 'herpetologist' which is the occupation of a zoologist that specializes in reptiles, amphibians, crocodiles and turtles [and snakes, which one COLLive reader manages to extract further offence from, via the Yiddish word {schlange} for snake/penis.], with no connection to the herpes disease.

...

[What's distasteful and offensive is 1. cutting parts off babies' genitals, 2. sucking babies' {cut} genitals, and 3. passing off an informed consent form to sucking (but not to cutting) babies' genitals as a health-protection measure.]

MANCHESTER: Nurse escapes gaol for circumcision death

BBC
February 8, 2013

Nurse spared jail for killing baby in botched circumcision

A nurse who caused the death of a baby in a botched home circumcision has been spared jail.

Grace Adeleye, 67, carried out the procedure using scissors, forceps and olive oil and without anaesthetic in Chadderton, Oldham, in April 2010.

Four-week-old Goodluck Caubergs bled to death before he could reach hospital the following day.

Adeleye, who was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, was given a suspended jail sentence.

A judge at Manchester Crown Court ordered her to serve 21 months in jail, suspended for 24 months.

'No problem'
She was also given a six-month overnight curfew [apparently her only "penalty"] and a 12-month supervision order.

...

Goodluck's parents said after sentencing "not for one minute" did they think the procedure would cause him harm.

In a statement they described his death as "having a nightmare that we could not wake up from".

"The sadness we feel does not seem to ease. We have now just grown to live with the pain of our son's death rather than it subsiding."

Det Insp Darren Meeks from Greater Manchester Police said the case in which a young baby lost his life in such a "tragic and unnecessary manner" was "heartbreaking".

"Although Adeleye was a registered nurse, she carried out the surgery at the parents' home, using a historic, crude and dangerous method, with inappropriate instruments."

[If it had been any other operation, would she have escaped imprisonment?]

Earlier story

BERLIN: Female cutting growing in Germany

Jewish Press (!)
February 6, 2013

Female Circumcision Now a Growing Problem in Germany

For many of these women, urinating can take up to 30 minutes, and is very painful.

Between 130 and 150 million women are victims of genital mutilation – most of them are Africans, Deutsche Welle reports. Now, doctors, teachers and social workers in Germany report being confronted by this practice in ever growing numbers.

Jawahir Cumar, who moved to Germany with her parents from Somalia when she was a girl, witnessed, at age 20, on a visit to her grandparents’ village, the funeral of young girl who had bled to death after being “circumcised.”

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced in 29 African countries, even though it is illegal in some of them. It is usually done when girls are between the ages of four and eight – using razor blades, kitchen knives and even broken glass and tin lids. Because these tools are used more than once, it also increases the spreading of bllod-based diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

FGM alters or injures female genitalia for non-medical reasons, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). ...

An estimated 30,000 women living in Germany have been subjected to FGM and 6,000 girls are at risk, according to human rights organization Terre des Femmes.

“Mothers-in-law and grandmothers, especially, call all the time, write letters and send messages,” says Cumar. And the message is always the same, “you have to cut your daughters! Or just bring them to us and we will do it.”

...

She was able to prevent 17 girls from being subjected to FGM last year. But there’s still a lot of work to be done in Germany as well, says Cumar, pointing to how long it took for “honor killings” to be viewed by police as a criminal offence and not simply as the customs of immigrants.

...

NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Rabbis will resist parental consent forms

The Jewish Daily Forward
January 30, 2013

Orthodox Rabbis Vow To Resist Consent Forms for Controversial Circumcision Rite

Balk at New York City Health Rule on Metzitzah B'Peh

by Seth Berkman

The leading association for mohelim who practice a risky oral blood suctioning technique in their circumcisions has vowed not to cooperate with New York City’s new health regulations governing use of the technique, known as metzitzah b’peh.

Brooklyn mohel Rabbi Avrohom Cohn, chairman of the American Board of Ritual Circumcision, said his group would not have parents sign waiver forms, which the city is now requiring as a condition for performing metzitzah b’peh.

“He’s the mayor of the biggest city in the world, but I’m not going to listen to him,” Cohn said, referring to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has strongly backed the new rules. “I have another mayor, the Almighty, and I will do it His way.”

...

Failure by a mohel who practices metzitzah b’peh to produce the relevant signed consent forms on request is “a violation of the New York City Health Code,” the DOHMH said in a statement to the Forward. Violating that code can lead to “a range of penalties,” the department added, including fines up to $2,000.

Orthodox defenders of the practice have filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse Buchwald’s ruling, but that is pending.

...
Now that the DOHMH rule is enforced, Orthodox defenders of the practice appear to be split on how to respond. David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, an influential umbrella organization for ultra-Orthodox groups, said his organization has not issued any directive advising whether or not parents should sign the consent forms.
...
New York City council member Lewis Fidler told the Forward at that time that the regulation was “probably next to impossible to enforce.” Fidler said: “Will you have undercover agents at a bris? In the end this will probably be a regulation flagrantly violated.”

In its statement to the Forward, DOHMH said it had “no plans for continuous monitoring” of mohels. “DOHMH will request forms from mohelim when investigating neonatal herpes cases potentially caused by direct oral suction or when investigating complaints by parents about direct oral suction,” the statement said. [Fat lot of good it does a baby with herpes that his parents have given informed consent for him to be infected.]

Cohn said he was working with other mohelim to organize a “day of prayer” that would draw “millions of people” who believe “in the existence of God” to protest in front of Bloomberg’s office in City Hall.

“We’re working very hard, spending a fortune of money on this,” he said.

Niederman said he did not know of any planned protests and that official bodies involved in the lawsuit have never discussed such action.



Earlier story

KENYA, ZAMBIA: Dangerous circumcision clamp being used

January 30, 2013

Dangerous circumcision clamp still in use in Africa

by Hugh Young

While the Mogen circumcision clamp is no longer manufactured in the USA, the Mogen company having been driven out of business by legal action, Mogen clamps are still being tested in Africa with a view to circumcising babies to reduce HIV-acquisition. No study has shown infant circumcision has any effect on HIV acquisition.

In 2010, a Florida family won $10.8 million in damages from the Mogen company, after the glans (head) of their son's penis was partially cut off in a Mogen clamp. This followed another successful claim for $7.5 million. As a result the Mogen Company went out of business.

Now, two studies from Africa, involving Mogen clamps have been published, suggesting they should be used on babies there.

J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2013 Jan 1;62(1):e1-6. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e318275741b. A controlled trial of three methods for neonatal circumcision in lusaka, zambia. Bowa K, Li MS, Mugisa B, Waters E, Linyama DM, Chi BH, Stringer JS, Stringer EM. Abstract OBJECTIVE: Neonatal male circumcision (NMC) is not routinely practiced in Zambia, but it is a promising long-term HIV prevention strategy. We studied the feasibility and safety of three different NMC methods. METHODS: We enrolled healthy newborns in a controlled trial of the Mogen, Gomco, and Plastibell devices. Doctors, nurses, and clinical officers were trained to perform Mogen, Gomco, and Plastibell techniques. Each provider performed at least 10 circumcisions using each device. Neonates were reviewed at 1 and 6 weeks after circumcision for adverse events. RESULTS: Between October 2009 and March 2011, 17 providers (5 physicians, 9 nurse midwives, and 3 clinical officers) without previous NMC experience were trained, and 640 circumcisions were performed. The median infant birth weight was 3.2 kg (interquartile range: 2.9-3.5 kg), and median age at the time of procedure was 11 days (interquartile range: 7-18 days); 149 babies (23.3%) were exposed to HIV. The overall adverse event rate was 4.9% (n = 31/630), and the moderate-severe adverse event rate was 4.1% (n = 26/630). Rates did not significantly differ by method. Most providers (65%) preferred Mogen clamp over Gomco and Plastibell. CONCLUSIONS: Doctors, nurses, and clinical officers can be trained to safely provide NMC in a programmatic setting. The 3 studied techniques had comparable safety profiles. Mogen clamp was the preferred device for most providers.

That is, one baby in 24 suffered a moderate-to-severe adverse event, and one baby in 20 any adverse event.

PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e47395. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047395. Epub 2012 Oct 17 Safety [or danger] of over twelve hundred infant male circumcisions using the Mogen clamp in Kenya. Young MR, Bailey RC, Odoyo-June E, Irwin TE, Obiero W, Ongong'a DO, Badia JA, Agot K, Nordstrom SK. Abstract BACKGROUND: Several sub-Saharan African countries plan to scale-up infant male circumcision (IMC) for cost-efficient HIV prevention. Little data exist about the safety of IMC in East and southern Africa. We calculated adverse event (AE) rate and risks for AEs associated with introduction of IMC services at five government health facilities in western Kenya. METHODS: AE data were analyzed for IMC procedures performed between September, 2009 and November, 2011. Healthy infants aged 2 months [or less] and weighing 2.5 kg [or more] were eligible for IMC. Following parental consent, trained clinicians provided IMC services free of charge under local anesthesia using the Mogen clamp. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to explore AE risk factors. FINDINGS: A total of 1,239 IMC procedures were performed. Median age of infants was 4 days (IQR=1, 16). The overall AE rate among infants reviewed post-operatively was 2.7% (18/678; 95%CI: 1.4, 3.9). There was one severe AE involving excision of a small piece of the lateral aspect of the glans penis. Other AEs were mild or moderate and were treated conservatively. Babies one month of age or older were more likely to have an AE (OR 3.20; 95%CI: 1.23, 8.36). AE rate did not differ by nurse versus clinical officer or number of previous procedures performed. CONCLUSION: IMC services provided in Kenyan Government hospitals in the context of routine IMC programming have AE rates comparable to those in developed countries. The optimal time for IMC is within the first month of life.

The Adverse Event frequency of 2.7% reported here is an order of magnitude greater than that reported by the AAP. Any claim the AAP makes of "the benefits exceeding the risks" is diluted by this. The AE rate is also higher than that of 1.7% reported by Weiss, Larke, Halperin and Schenker.

They report a [parental?] dissatisfaction rate of 4% and less than 1 in 10 of those would not circumcise their son again.

Earlier story

HELSINKI: AAP Policy; "routine circumcision is insane" - Paediatrics Professor

Pediatrics
January 22, 2013

Routine circumcision is insane

by Harry G Lindahl, Associate Professor of Paediatric Surgery
Helsinki University Children's Hospital

Re: "Circumcision Policy Statement" 130:3 585-586doi:10.1542/peds.2012-1989

The evolution of mammals gained speed about 65 million years ago, when a meteorite fell on Yucatan and killed the dinosaurs. For all that we know, at that time, the mammals had a foreskin. If the mammal foreskin would be such a harmful piece of tissue as the pro circumcision lobbyists claim, it certainly would have fallen off during the 65 million years of evolution. However, mammals, including the human species, still have a foreskin. Rat is the most successful mammal on this planet. It has a foreskin. Evolution is merciless, and whatever mistakes it makes about the less important organs, such as the brain or stomach, it certainly knows best about the reproductive organs.

Therefore, the claim, that there are health benefits in excising a piece of healthy tissue from the penis of a healthy neonate, is as absurd as would be the claim that amputating the left little finger of a neonate has health benefits. However, if you would make such an absurd claim, either of the prepuce or of the left little finger, you would have to provide the highest level of proof according to the principles of evidence based medicine. This means several randomized controlled studies performed by independent researchers, all having the same result. There is no such evidence, neither of the prepuce nor of the left little finger.

The AAP is having a "Circumcision task force". This is as absurd as having a task force for "The Routine Amputating of the Left Little Finger of a Neonate". Is the AAP insane? To an European Paediatric Surgeon it seems so.

Earlier story

VANCOUVER: Intactivists protest Oprah's foreskin facecream

Brandford Expositor (Canada)
January 23, 2013

Oprah protested for endorsing face cream made from foreskins

by Jim Morris

Picture by James Loewen

VANCOUVER – Her advice may be followed by hordes of people, but a Vancouver group wants Oprah Winfrey to explain why she has endorsed an anti-wrinkle cream made with human foreskins.

Winfrey makes her first appearance in Vancouver on Thursday before a sold-out crowd at Rogers Arena.

But as crowds pack into the stadium, Glen Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, will be outside with his supporters protesting Winfrey's support of SkinMedica.

Callender says it’s hypocritical of Winfrey to speak out against female genital mutilation, while saying it’s all right to use a face cream made from foreskins from circumcised infant males.

“Imagine how Oprah would respond if a skin cream for men went on the market that was made from parts of the genitalia of little girls,” Callender said. “That would be an outrage and rightly so.”

Callender expects “a dozen to two dozen people” to attend the protest.

Advertisements for SkinMedica say Winfrey has described the product as her “magic fountain of youth and miracle wrinkle solution.” Winfrey didn’t immediately respond to an email asking for comment.

The makers of SkinMedica have said they use foreskin fibroblast — a piece of human skin used as a culture to grow other skin or cells.

“I would like Oprah to come to her senses and realize that all children have a fundamental human right to keep all their genitalia and to decide for themselves if anything gets cut off,” Callender said Wednesday.

Callender describes the Foreskin Awareness Project as Canada's “feistiest pro-foreskin advocacy group” with the goal of “foreskin education and appreciation.”