Mohels suspected of infecting babies with herpes during a controversial ultra-Orthodox circumcision rite will have to undergo DNA testing under a tentative agreement between the city of New York and ultra-Orthodox rabbis which would also lead to scrapping parental consent forms for the procedure.
Officials in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, speaking on the condition that they not be named, told reporters in a February 24 conference call that if there is a DNA match between the herpes virus in the mohel and an infected infant, the mohel will be banned from performing the ritual, known as metzitzah b’peh, for life.
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