To think that 1st Cousin Marriage should be illegal

[stucknoue]

Background: as part of my job I rent out halls, they are very popular for Asian parties and weddings and my clients are lovely, often bringing me food and inviting me to their celebrations.

Over the past couple of months I've unfortunately had to rent the hall for child funeral meals twice to the same family, the kids were cousins and had the same rare genetic condition. In talking to their grandad he revealed that he and his wife were cousins, then going on to tell me that the parents of the sadly deceased children were also cousins. I looked up that cousin marriage increases genetic conditions 3 fold, the more generations that have practiced it then the higher the probability. With our knowledge of science surely this practice should be outlawed?

@Birdsfoottrefoil - Askenazi - and specifically, Hasidic - Jews are a great example of why it's better to work with communities to educate and facilitate change, than to impose legislation. You are never going to prevent Jews from marrying within their community, and have absolutely no chance of preventing Hasidim from doing so. Tay Sachs and Canavan now occur at less than half the rate within the Jewish population as in the general population, thanks to the success of public health promotion measures which have brought virtually all Western Jews, even the most insular, traditional and closed Hasidim, on board with genetic counselling.

@Justaboy

“I know of an Asian woman who married an english man and thieri
offspring, one to Ofxord and the other to Cambridgesmile

That did work well and both children perfectly healthy!”

Eerrr.... are They first cousins?

The majority of the local health trust budget is spent on hearing problems

Could you please cite the source of that information (with the data) and the matching evidence that this is down to kin marriages?

I've never seen cohort data which would support an effect of that magnitude.

Narked, there are genetic studies of the Amish which may interest you

I think the Amish aren't allowed to marry first or second cousins? It was my understanding that their genetic issues are associated with ethnicity rather than familial marriages.

Off course this thread is racist, Look at any other complaining thread and see where an ethnicity is mentioned.

It’s not racist, it is more prevalent in Muslim culture. It used to be in ‘white Christian’ culture too but we have moved on. It’s not to say all Muslims marry their cousins by any means but many still do and you are right, it causes many genetic problems.

YANBU.

public health promotion measures which have brought virtually all Western Jews, even the most insular, traditional and closed Hasidim, on board with genetic counselling.

Yes exactly. Most cousin marriages do not produce a problem. Every ethnicity has a number of conditions most commonly found in that ethnicity.

Education and genetic counselling is far more effective than sweeping assumptions based on the inability to distinguish correlation and causation.

There's a huge amount of bias on here- 'It's not right' "it's all sorts of wrong'. A sure fire way to victimise people.

My sister married my cousin. First cousin -my mum and aunt were sisters. Both white British but lived opposite ends of the country. As teens they fell in love and there it was.

They were advised (not required) to go for genetic screening which they did. They have 3 fabulous children and now a grandchild.

I understand that it's repeated cousin marriage that creates the problems, so education is the answer not making it illegal.

Kindly stop with the ' We'll run you out of the village' mentality, it's so base.

@LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD there was a article a few years ago written by an anon immigration official about the families coming over on the flights from Pakistan/ Bangladesh for cousin marriage, and those going back to visit with disproportionate numbers of disabled children.

The authorities wouldn’t deal with Asian grooming gangs for 20 years because they were afraid of being called racist. I don’t think this is at all surprising

It’s not racist. There was a geneticist of Pakistani origin, talking about this on Woman’s Hour in Radio 4 early this year. She was trying to raise awareness of this in the community & with GP practices. She felt that it was something which needed to be brought into the open and that many GPs & other health professionals felt afraid to broach the subject for fear of being labelled as racist.

AmateurSwami, the community involved is the Pakistani Community and they are predominantly Muslim.

So Mosques do have a role in raising the health outcomes for it's community.

Muslim Women have a history of not engaging with Health Services etc and Girls are restricted from Sex/Health etc classes in schools.

That community has a right to receive the best healthcare advice available, from wharever source is most appropriate.

Whilst the points about European royalty are interesting and accurate I hope they aren’t used in a “posh people do it so why can’t everyone else” argument

European royalty also developed a "nudge nudge, wink wink" attitude to bastards and cuckolding. Which a casual review of various royal bloodlines reveals.

It's still a mystery exactly where the haemophilia that suddenly popped up in the British Royal family came from . Which would be just so much gossip fodder it it hadn't started the Russian revolution.

NearlyGranny
I did know one family where three sisters had married three brothers (small, isolated town) which made their children double cousins.

I know an Asian family like this 2 sisters married 2 brothers. The parents were also related to each other can't remember how it mi88
Yes one of their 3 children has sevirv e learning difficulties.

If it weren't a problem, we wouldn;'t be asked by the midwife at your booking in appointment if you are a blood relation of the father.

I do agree though that education is key, or recommended genetic screening before pregnancy.

Female genital mutilation is a ‘cultural norm’. Do you think that should be allowed too?

Notable that this went unanswered ...

Lord, now we have ' disgusting '. Get your pitch forks sharpened.

It’s not racist, it is more prevalent in Muslim culture.

There is no homogenous Muslim culture. I think you mean South Asian, in which case they are made up of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains; all of which can and do marry first cousins.

I think they should be banned, but how to enforce that I have no idea. My late dh's parents were cousin's. Unfortunately the combination of genes left him with multiple disabilities at birth which eventually killed him.

My family are originally from very rural Ireland and the population wasn’t big and they weren’t well connected to other towns but every generation someone had to “marry out” by luck or arrangement to try and control the chances of this. I think most communities managed small populations like this

As genetic testing becomes easier and more common it may well happen in the not too distant future that comparing genetics becomes a common part of planning a family with a partner

I find it unusual that people don't know the problems that CAN arise from marrying first cousins. I have never met one once and I know of many.
You can not make other cultures belief system illegal. That is totally racist, or are we saying it should be illegal for all cultures, oh and anyone who carries a genetic disease, are you counting these.
What is it with the British and them thinking they can rule everyone, I thought the Empire had gone?
This thread is truly shocking

Half of my family is from a Muslim country and they’d all run up a tree before marrying a relative! More cultural tradition than religious I’d say.

I wouldn't like to be a child whose peer group found out their parents were first cousins. Surely you'd be trying to hide that as a kid?

Female genital mutilation is a ‘cultural norm’. Do you think that should be allowed too?

Notable that this went unanswered ...

I would hope it's because it needs no answer

I come into contact with disabled young people a lot in my job, including BME disabled young people and yes, their parents are always cousins.

What is also upsetting is that the majority of their parents refuse to recognise their child is disabled, and thus refuse many of the support that is available.

They also believe that their child will face no challenges or obstacles to becoming a lawyer / surgeon etc and I say that as a disabled person myself. The kid whose parents want him to be a surgeon is completely blind.