Beth Din endorses Jewish genetic screening

The London Beth Din has endorsed a Jewish community screening programme offering testing facilities for the nine most prevalent genetic diseases in the Ashkenazi Jewish community.

The timely endorsement comes as the programme, run by the charity Jewish Genetic Disorders UK, prepares to run its second round of screening, which takes place on Sunday 11 May at Finchley Synagogue, KinlossGardens.

“A simple blood test can avert the incidence of tragic genetic disease by alerting carriers to the risks to their children by marrying another carrier,” said the Beth Din in a statement.

It also pointed out that taking measures to prevent illness and enhance the health of the community is a fulfilment of the mitzvah “you shall surely take care of your health”.

Katrina Sarig, JGD UK, was delighted, saying: “We are proud to receive this very clear and significant endorsement from the Beth Din, which we hope will help encourage even more people to take advantage of our community screening programme.”