marrying cousins

[ramalamadingdonk]

I do think it should be illegal to try and prevent birth defects etc. my grandparents were first cousins. it was well known in our family and the community. it wasn't a huge scandal. they were born in the 20s. was it so unheard of??

And many are trafficked/ brought to the UK to.marry someone who isn't a cousin. So deal with the genuine issue - women being trafficked/ coerced.

Problems arise when it’s happened multiple times over generations like the Habsburgs and in certain countries where it’s still common like Pakistan.

There was a cult like family in Australia started by a man having children with his own daughters and sisters. They lived in the woods for decades. When they were found it was the youngest generation who had the worst issues. Because by then it had been like three or four generations of incest

That example isn't about cousin marriages.

Genetic screening and counselling seems a good idea in higher risk relationships ,including older parents. Alternatively you could ban anyone over 35 from getting married? But they might still have children...

You’re right it’s not but it does show how it can take a couple generations of repeated incest for the ill effects to show up.

The habsburgs were the result of cousin marriage though

I certainly don't hold up the Habsburgs as the example of an ideal family, for all sorts of reasons!

Was it this one? Horrible...😢

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltclanincestcase

The family was nearly 40 members, unbelievably awful...

The issue isn't the very occasional marriage of first cousins. It the marriage of cousins every generation. Not necessarily always first cousins, often second or third. But the problem is that over hundreds of years gene pools shrink rather than expand and birth defects start to concentrate.
This kind of marriage is very common in Pakistan, Afghanistan and some other muslim countries, with disastrous effects which are well documented among immigrant people from these areas.
In Europe, historically, first cousin marriage was regarded as a form of incest and was widely banned. The Catholic church still forbids it, except by dispensation, ie, you have to get special permission.
Imo first cousin marriage should be illegal.
To see the NHS basically green-lighting incest is something I never thought I'd see.

The Bradford problem is years and years of intermarriage

Lower sociin economic status has nothing to do with it

Also, you could be forced to marry a cousin you've never met i.e. shipped in from Pakistan. So while it may be horrendous because it's an arranged/forced marriage, it is a complete stranger, rather than a close family member