A campaign is being launched to help New York rabbis encourage couples to perform screenings for Jewish genetic diseases before pregnancy. The Jewish Genetic Disease Consortium and the New York Board of Rabbis have launched a campaign aimed at encouraging couples to perform screenings for Jewish genetic diseases before they start a family. The ‘Couples Aware’ campaign was presented at the Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan.
The program, which will run until February 2011, includes training sessions for rabbis at local hospitals. The rabbis will review the basics of genetics with counselors and learn ways to incorporate genetic screening into their premarital counseling sessions. About one in five Ashkenazi Jews are carriers of at least one of 16 genetic diseases that can be fatal in early childhood and cause mental and physical deterioration. Having two carriers of the same disease increases the chances of giving birth to a child affected by it.
“In the rare case that both members of the couple are carriers of the same disease, they can work with a genetic counselor to determine the best way to build a healthy family," said Randy Glaser, co-chair of the Jewish Genetic Disease Consortium. “We are trying to create an educated consumer who is screened before conception,” Glasser said. What a couple does with the information they receive was entirely up to them, she emphasized. “They can decide to raise a child with a debilitating disease, but there are choices in between,” Glasser said.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn said: “Saving human lives is the paramount mitzvah of our people and therefore the New York Board of Rabbis has given this project prioritized attention. There is nothing more important to the Jewish community than the health of our children, and it was obvious that we as rabbis can and should do as much as possible to counsel couples about Jewish genetic diseases.”
