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Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

125 Worth Street in 2013
Department overview
Jurisdiction	New York City
Headquarters	42-09 28th St, Long Island City, NY
Department executive	Mary Bassett, Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene
Child department	New York City Board of Health
Key document	New York City Charter
Website	www.nyc.gov/health

2 Gotham Center in Long Island City, home to the DOHMH

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is the department of the government of New York City^[1] responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcement. The New York City Board of Health is part of the department.^[2][3] Its regulations are compiled in title 24 of the New York City Rules (the New York City Health Code). Since September 1, 2018, the acting commissioner has been Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

History

The department was initially set up as the New York City Board of Health, which held its first meeting in 1805 to combat an outbreak of yellow fever. In 1866, the New York State legislature enacted a bill establishing the Metropolitan Board of Health, consisting of the four Police Commissioners, four Health Commissioners appointed by the Governor, and the Health Officer for the Port of New York. In 1870 the legislature replaced the Board of Health with the Department of Health, with additional responsibilities including street cleaning and sanitary permits.^[4]

As of December 1894, Charles G. Wilson was serving as President of the Board of Health.^[5]

As a result of its consolidation with the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services, it was renamed the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on July 29, 2002.^[6]

Controversy

In October, 2017, public health and animal rights activists in New York City launched a campaign to compel Health Commissioner Mary Bassett to enforce seven public health codes violated during Kaporos, a ritual animal sacrifice that takes place before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.^[7] From October 2017 to May 2018, the activists disrupted four of her public speaking engagements and staged four protests in the lobby of the NYC Department of Health (DOH).^[8] The activists allege that Commssioner Bassett is turning a blind eye to the health code violations because the ultra-Orthodox Jews who practice the ritual represent a powerful voting bloc. During Kaporos, an estimated 60,000 six-week old chickens are intensively confined in crates without food or water for up to several days before being ritually slaughtered. Activists claim that many die of starvation, thirst and exposure before the ritual takes place, but there is no evidence of this. While activists claim the birds are discarded after slaughter, they are typically used for food and often donated to the poor (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/nyregion/a-raw-deal-for-chickens-as-jews-atone-for-sins.html). A toxicology reported submitted to the court as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the DOH states that the ritual poses a risk to public health in the neighborhoods where it takes place.^[9] While Commissioner Bassett has not publicly acknowledged the toxicology report or the activists’ claims about the health code violations, she has issued a public statement asserting that “there remains no evidence that the use of chickens for Kaporos poses a significant risk to human health.”^[10]

Animal rights activists have repeatedly engaged in anti-Semitic actions against the Jewish community, including defacing a kosher slaughterhouses (https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/11/30/animal-rights-activists-deface-east-london-kosher-slaughterhouse-with-antisemitic-graffiti/), shouting anti-Semitic slogans (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/201030), physically attacking a Jewish man and stealing his chickens (https://www.laweekly.com/news/ultra-orhtodox-jews-should-stop-killing-live-chickens-animal-rights-activists-say-8725261) and suing synagogues, most recently in Irvine, California. The U.S. District Court dismissed the lawsuit brought against Chabad of Irvine and they were allowed to proceed with their ritual (https://firstliberty.org/cases/chabad//).

Organization

• New York City Board of Health


• 
  Commissioner of Health
  
  
  
  • General Counsel
  
  
  • Chief Medical Examiner
  
  
  • Executive Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer
    
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Mental Hygiene
      
      
      
      • Alcohol and Drug Treatment
      
      
      • Child and Adolescent Services
      
      
      • Mental Health
      
      
      • Developmental Disabilities
      
      
      • Systems Strengthening and Access
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Disease Control
      
      
      
      • Communicable Diseases
      
      
      • HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control
      
      
      • Immunization
      
      
      • Public Health Laboratory
      
      
      • STI Prevention and Control
      
      
      • Tuberculosis Control
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health
      
      
      
      • Environmental Disease Prevention
      
      
      • Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response
      
      
      • Environmental Sciences and Engineering
      
      
      • Environmental Surveillance and Policy
      
      
      • Food Safety and Community Sanitation
      
      
      • Poison Control Center
      
      
      • Veterinary and Pest Control
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Epidemiology
      
      
      
      • Epidemiology Services
      
      
      • Vital Statistics
      
      
      • Public Health Training
      
      
      • World Trade Center Health Registry
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Health Care Access and Improvement
      
      
      
      • Correctional Health Services
      
      
      • Primary Care Access and Planning
      
      
      • Primary Care Information Project
      
      
      • Information Technology Initiatives
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
      
      
      
      • Chronic Disease Prevention and Tobacco Control
      
      
      • District Public Health Offices
      
      
      • Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health
      
      
      • School Health
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Administration
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Finance
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner and Chief Information Officer
    
    
    • Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Preparedness and Response
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Board of Health

The New York City Board of Health is part of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and consists of the commissioner of the department, the chairperson of the department's Mental Hygiene Advisory Board, and nine other members appointed by the mayor.^[3]

See also

• 
  New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), for hearings conducted on certain summonses issued by the Department


• New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation


• New York State Department of Health


• New York State Department of Mental Hygiene


• Metropolitan Board of Health


• Sugary Drinks Portion Cap Rule

References

External links

• New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene


• 
  Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (New York City Health Code) in the Rules of the City of New York