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'''Susan Blank''', {{MD}}, {{MPH}}, was the Chairwoman of the [[AAP Circumcision Task Force 2012]]. The Task force released a new policy statement on circumcision on 27 August 2012.

She has had worked at the [https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/about/about-doh.page New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ] since 1992. She is affiliated with the [[CDC ]] and works at the DOHMH as an assignee from the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention at the CDC. Currently she is the Director and Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of STD Control.<ref>{{REFweb

|title=Susan Blank, MD, MPHM.D. M.P.H.

}}</ref> ==History==Blank was an Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at the time that a ''mohel'' was believed to have infected three infants with [[herpes]] after performing mouth suction on their [[penis]] wounds.<ref>{{REFweb |quote= |url=http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/7/iii.full |title=New York Officials Bar Rabbi from Circumcision Ritual |last= |first= |publisher= |date=2005-02 |accessdate=2019-10-04}}</ref> One of those infants died and another was believed to have brain damage. [[Thomas R. Frieden]] also worked at DOHMH at the time. It appears that Blank helped do research for the letter that Frieden later published as "An Open Letter to the Jewish Community", in response to these events.<ref>{{REFdocument |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009055505/http://www.nyp-rpc.org/pdf/2005_health_alert46.pdf |title=2005 Health Alert #46: Neonatal herpes infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 following circumcision with oral suctioning (metzitzah b’peh) |last=Blank |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Blank |last2=Schillinger |first2=Julia |website=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009055505/http://www.nyp-rpc.org/pdf/2005_health_alert46.pdf |publisher=The City of New York |date=2005-12-13 |accessdate=2019-10-04 |archived=yes}}</ref> ==Chairman of the 2012 AAP Circumcision Committee==She appears to be convinced of the medical advantages of circumcision.

|ref=<ref>{{REFweb |url=http://kunc.org/post/pediatricians-decide-boys-are-better-circumcised-not |title=Pediatricians Decide Boys Are Better Off Circumcised Than Not |website=Community Radio for Northern Colorado |date=2012-08-31 |accessdate=2019-10-04}}</ref>}} Blank was an Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at the time that a ''mohel'' was believed to have infected three infants with [[herpes]] after performing mouth suction on their penis wounds.<ref>{{REFweb |quote= |url=http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/7/iii.full |title=New York Officials Bar Rabbi from Circumcision Ritual |last= |first= |publisher= |date=2005-02 |accessdate=2019-10-04}}</ref> One of those infants died and another was believed to have brain damage. [[Thomas R. Frieden]] also worked at DOHMH at the time. It appears that Blank helped do research for the letter that Frieden later published as "An Open Letter to the Jewish Community", in response to these events.<ref>{{REFweb |quote= |url= |title=2005 Health Alert #46: Neonatal herpes infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 following circumcision with oral suctioning (metzitzah b’peh) [a letter to doctors] |last= |first= |website=error 404 |publisher= |date=

}}Susan Blank may have confused her ethnic views on [[Brit Milah| circumcision ]] with medical science. Her circumcision policy of 2012 received scathing critical comment.<ref name="frisch2013">{{REFjournal

|init=M |author-link=Morten Frisch |last2=Aigrain |first2=Yves |init2=Y

|last3=Barauskas |first3=Vidmontas |init3=V

}}</ref> The statement failed to recognize that young boys are human persons with [[human rights]] independent of their parents. It expired in 2017 and has not been reaffirmed by the [[AAP]]. Susan Blank was the subject of a protest at her Queens, New York City home by the [[intactivist]] group [[Intaction]] for her involvement with the AAP [[American_Academy_of_Pediatrics#Fifth_policy_.282012.29| 2012 Committee]].<ref>{{REFnews |title=Queens doctor targeted over circumcisions |url=https://qns.com/story/2013/11/24/queens-doctor-targeted-over-circumcisions/ |last=Fortis |first=Bianca |publisher=QNS |website= |date=2013-11-24 |accessdate=2023-12-30 |quote=Babies have no say. We have to be their voice.}}</ref> Susan Black is an outstanding example of a Jewish medical doctor who promotes non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] of boys for specious medical reasons. She is a worthy successor to [[Edgar J. Schoen]], M.D.== Fate of the 2012 AAP Circumcision Policy Statement ==The 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement received unrelenting critical comment from many sources, because of its significant omissions of the [[Foreskin#Physiological_functions| function of the foreskin]], [[human rights]] issues, defective [[medical ethics]], inaccurate medical information, and many other reasons.<ref name="doc2013">{{REFweb |url=https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/commentary-on-american-academy-of-pediatrics-2012-circumcision-policy-statement.pdf |title=Commentary on American Academy of Pediatrics 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement |trans-title= |language= |last=Staff |first= |author-link= |publisher=[[Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.)]] |website= |date=2013-04 |accessdate=2020-02-15 |format=PDF |quote=}}</ref><ref name="frisch2013"/><ref>{{REFjournal |last=Svoboda |first=J. Steven |init=JS |author-link=J. Steven Svoboda |last2=Van Howe |first2=Robert S. |init2=RS |author2-link=Robert S. Van Howe |etal=no |title=Out of step: fatal flaws in the latest AAP policy report on neonatal circumcision |journal=J Med Eth |location=Published online first |date=2013-03-13 |volume=39 |issue=7 |pages=434-41 |url=https://arclaw.org.customers.tigertech.net/wp-content/uploads/Svoboda-Van-Howe-Out-of-Step-Fatal-Flaws-in-AAP...-JME-2013.pdf |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=23508208 |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.1136/medethics-2013-101346 |accessdate=2021-07-30}}</ref><ref>{{REFdocument |title=Commentary on American Academy of Pediatrics 2012 Circumcision Policy Statemeni |url=https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/commentary-on-american-academy-of-pediatrics-2012-circumcision-policy-statement.pdf |contribution= |last= |first= |publisher=[[Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.)]] |format=PDF |date=2013-04-01 |accessdate=2021-07-30}}</ref><ref>{{REFjournal |last=Darby |first=Robert |init=R |author-link=Robert Darby |etal=no |title=Risks, Benefits, Complications and Harms: Neglected Factors in the Current Debate on Non-Therapeutic Circumcision |journal=Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal |location= |date=2015-04 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=1-34 |url=https://kiej.georgetown.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/03_25.1darby.pdf |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=25843118 |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.1353/ken.2015.0004 |accessdate=2020-04-16}}</ref> [[AAP]] policies stand for five years unless renewed; this policy expired in 2017 and has ''not'' been renewed or reaffirmed. Currently, the AAP does ''not'' have a circumcision policy. This attempt to promote non-therapeutic circumcision in the [[United States]] backfired and results in a continually declining incidence of unnecessary non-therapeutic [[circumcision]], although the failed, rejected, former policy statement inexplicably remains on their website.  The policy produced under Blank's direction was a total failure and brought discredit to the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] [[medical trade association]]. Moreover, the declining incidence of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] in the [[USA]] results in less revenue for those medical doctors who still perform non-therapeutic circumcisions.

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