Re: Cousin marriages- yay or nay in this day and age.
But it can also be argued that even couples who are not cousins have children with medical problems.
Of course they do. I have never read an article or study that claims that non-cousin couple do not have disabled children. The point in articles like this is that the odds are higher if there have been multiple cousin marriages within a family. Its like seat belts in cars. Wearing a seat belt doesn't guarantee that you don't die….but not wearing one raises those odds dramatically.
What are your thoughts on this?
Both my parents come from families where cousin marriage don't take place. We're all raised to think of/treat each other as brothers/sisters so the idea of marrying each other has never been brought up. I don't know how much this played a factor but thankfully, there is not 1 single disabled child in my family. I have 1 cousin (she's in her 30's now) who is a little slow mentally but she was born premature due to her mother going into labor early. But other than that…every child in my family (both my mom and dad's side) has been born healthy.
I don't get cousin marriages to be honest. Maybe its b/c it doesn't happen in my family but I don't understand why people can't find someone outside the family. My dada/dadi had 8 kids….nana/nani had 5. Between them currently I have close to 40 1st cousins and almost 9 2nd cousins. Yet somehow they have managed to find a spouse for all the married one's OUTSIDE the family. I have few friends who married their 1st cousins and based on their experience….I feel it just creates more drama.
As for the article….emotional/religion arguments aside….the FACTS do seem to suggest that a community with a high rate of cousin marriages are having a higher % of disabled children. So the question becomes….are these numbers fake? If the numbers are accurate, is there another explanation behind these numbers OTHER than people marrying within family?
BTW, the article is long but I'll just highlight below some of the specific statistics they're using to back up their view:
"the facts speak for themselves. British Pakistanis, half of whom marry a first cousin (a figure that is universally agreed), are 13 times more likely to produce children with genetic disorders than the general population, according to Government-sponsored research."
"One in ten children from these cousin marriages either dies in infancy or develops a serious life-threatening disability."
"While British Pakistanis account for three per cent of the births in this country, they are responsible for 33 per cent of the 15,000 to 20,000 children born each year with genetic defects."
"A recent survey of 1,100 pregnant women in the city showed that 70 per cent have husbands who are first cousins — a higher percentage than the average of 50 per cent among Pakistanis across the whole of Britain."
"more than six per cent of children in Bradford have health defect."
"In a typical health authority area, the range of different types of genetic disorder total 25 a year. But in Bradford, 140 have been diagnosed, according to Dr Peter Corry, a consultant paediatrician at the hospital."
"The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit says eight per cent of all UK children born with this kind of neuro-degenerative condition come from Bradford, although the city has just one per cent of the UK’s population."
