Posted on 08/16/2005 2:52:25 PM PDT by Alouette
After lowering infant mortality rates among Arabs in western Galilee through the reduction of neonatal infections, early detection and encouraging abortions of fetuses with major and lethal congenital defects, public health experts are now focusing on the last main cause of babies' deaths in this population: inbreeding.
Dr. Avshalom Strulov of the University of Haifa's Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies and of the Health Ministry's Northern District health office reports in the August issue of the Israel Medical Association Journal about efforts to discourage Arab first cousins and other close relatives from marrying. Such consanguineous marriages, he writes, "are not part of the Islamic religion" and are indeed harmful since they lead to the conception of fetuses with serious inherited diseases.
The district health office has initiated a project in areas with large Arab populations that includes study days for health personnel, initiation of reports against inbreeding in the Arabic-language mass media, and encouragement of Muslim religious leaders to declare in mosques that this practice is likely to produce defective children.
Most of the activity, however, recruits elementary and high-school teachers in the Arab sector who speak to pupils about the dangers of marrying close relatives. "The effect on the reduction of the rates of consanguineous marriages should be observable within years, and the effect on infant mortality within generations," Strulov predicts.
The three-pronged effort would further reduce the gap in infant mortality rates between the Jewish and Arab populations in Israel, he said. In 2002, the annual infant mortality rate was 4.0 per 1,000 live births among Jews and 9.0 among Arabs; in the Northern District, it was 5.4 among Jews and 7.8 among Arabs.
Strulov was appointed by the ministry nearly two decades ago as coordinator of a multi-professional and multi-organizational committee that aimed at reducing the gap in infant mortality between the two sectors as much as possible.
In the early Eighties, the rate among Arabs was 22.6 per 1,000 live births and half that among Jews.
The main causes of deaths of Arab babies in summer were acute gastrointestinal infections and diarrhea, and in winter, upper respiratory tract infections and hypothermia (low body temperature due to inadequate heating).
Information campaigns about preventing and treating both of these conditions, as well as better means for refrigeration and hygiene, brought these deaths almost down to zero.
Ultrasound facilities, doctors and subsidies by Clalit Health Services significantly increased the early detection of severe congenital defects in fetuses, most of whose mothers decided on an abortion.
The remaining major problem was consanguinity, said Strulov, and while progress on this took many years, movement was in the right direction.
It doesn't surprise me to know such archaic laws may still be on the books. But I think that in the U.S. most of us are smart enough to understand the problems involved, and to look elsewhere for spouses. I didn't marry a relative, and I'll bet you didn't, either!
My parents are technically first cousins, but my father was adopted.
UPSHOT = Less risky isn't "no risk". Don't marry your cousin.
Offspring of cousins have less genetic risk than previously thought
Inaccurate information, rather than genetic conditions, may pose a greater threat to cousins who want to have children together. It is generally believed that serious genetic disorders are common among children of first cousins. Data published in the April issue of the Journal of Genetic Counseling show that such risks, while real, are relatively small.
A task force assembled by the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) that included genetic counselors, physicians and epidemiologists together then published guidelines for advising cousin couples after evaluating the risks and reviewing the data from six major studies from 1965 to August 2000. What the authors were looking for was the additional risk of significant birth defects (including mental retardation or genetic disorders) as compared to the 3 to 4 percent risk faced by the general population of couples. Although it's not possible to come up with one number for all populations of consanguineous couples, the authors estimate the additional risk of deleterious genetic conditions range from 1.7 to 2.8 percent for first cousin unions.
The actual total risk for a child of such couples is around 6 percent. This means that there is a high likelihood (94 percent) that the child will be healthy. Due to widespread misconceptions about the actual level of risk to offspring, some of these pregnancies are terminated and other couples suffer needless anxiety. In 30 states, including the WWAMI states Washington, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, it is illegal for cousins to marry.
Robin Bennett, genetic counselor and manager of the UW Medical Genetics Clinic, is lead author of the paper and president-elect of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. Arno Motulsky, professor emeritus of medicine and genome sciences, is the senior author.
Wow, your with your anti-southern views, you must be a blue-blooded yankee.
In reality (instead of yankee land), the only significant populations in North America with sufficient inbreeding to cause genetic problems are: (1) certain Native American tribes located in the far Nothern areas (e.g., eskimoes); (2) the Amish in Pennsylvania; and (3) european jews who re-located to the United States (Tay-Sachs being the most common problem). Indeed, studies among American Jews have show repeated "double cousins" in the lines, with the resulting increase in genetic problems.
Note that all of these populations are generally located NORTH of the Mason-Dixon line.
(Why do I know this? I'm ethnically Jewish, and this is something one must be careful about.)
Genesis 19:37 And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
Genesis 19:38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
It's stories like this from all over the world that makes me realize that we Southern Whites/Rednecks are the LEAST inbred people on Earth. We are civilized enought to have laws against incest.
Note Post 45. Far more seriously in-bred yankees than Southerners.
No, but it does explain why some people are assholes.
Incest: A fun game the whole family can play.
The Bible does not prohibit first cousin or even uncle/niece marriages, in fact seems to encourage it.
I agree. It explains a lot.
Inbreeding explains a lot more than infant mortality.
Interesting, since some Bible scholars think that Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, are first cousins.
Years ago I remember reading pro -Israel propaganda BRAGGING how the Arabs in Israel had a higher birthrate than in neighboring countries.
I guess Ben-Gurion's concept of a "newJew" meant getting rid of ones yiddish kop.
The Lees inbred, more than one "double-cousin" scenario, as you describe, and produced some unfortunate genetic results. One set of first cousins marrying doesn't mean much, unless they both have something big, like the Cystic Fibrosis gene, but a history of it over 7 or 8 generations is bad news.
I see your ancient history and raise you the LAW, Leviticus 18:
[First the catch all]:
No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.
[Now some specifics for those that are slow:]
7 " 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
8 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.
9 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
10 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.
11 " 'Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
12 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
13 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative.
14 " 'Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
15 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her.
16 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
17 " 'Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
18 " 'Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
And on and on. Animals are in there, too.
If a man from Saudi Arabia stones his wife for incest would she still be listed as his sister on her tombstone?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.