Posted on 02/09/2008 7:09:50 PM PST by forkinsocket
A government minister has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society.
Phil Woolas, an environment minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the “elephant in the room”. Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: “If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there’ll be a genetic problem.”
The minister, whose views were supported by medical experts this weekend, said: “The issue we need to debate is first cousin marriages, whereby a lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability [in children].”
Woolas emphasised the practice did not extend to all Muslim communities but was confined mainly to families originating from rural Pakistan. However, up to half of all marriages within these communities are estimated to involve first cousins.
Medical research suggests that while British Pakistanis are responsible for 3% of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses.
The minister’s comments come as Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, rejected calls to resign over claims that Islamic law should be introduced in Britain. “I’m not contemplating resignation,” he told friends.
Williams insists his remarks were misinterpreted and that he was not advocating a parallel sharia jurisdiction for Muslims, but Lord Carey, his predecessor, warned acceptance of Muslim laws in Britain would be "disastrous".
The archbishop is believed to have received hate mail since he made his controversial comments but has rejected offers of round-the-clock police protection.
Williams is set to clash with the government again this week by voicing opposition to plans to extend detention without charge for terrorist suspects to 42 days.
Woolas, who represents the ethnically mixed seat of Oldham East and Saddleworth, has previously warned that Muslim women who wear headscarves could provoke “fear and resentment”. Yesterday, he was similarly outspoken.
“If you talk to any primary care worker they will tell you that levels of disability among the . . . Pakistani population are higher than the general population. And everybody knows it’s caused by first cousin marriage.
“That’s a cultural thing rather than a religious thing. It is not illegal in this country.
“The problem is that many of the parents themselves and many of the public spokespeople are themselves products of first cousin marriages. It’s very difficult for people to say ‘you can’t do that’ because it’s a very sensitive, human thing.”
He added that the issue is not talked about. “The health authorities look into it. Most health workers and primary care trusts in areas like mine are very aware of it. But it’s a very sensitive issue. That’s why it’s not even a debate and people outside of these areas don’t really know it exists.”
Woolas was supported by Ann Cryer, Labour MP for Keighley, who called for the NHS to do more to warn parents of the dangers of inbreeding.
“This is to do with a medieval culture where you keep wealth within the family,” she said.
“If you go into a paediatric ward in Bradford or Keighley you will find more than half of the kids there are from the Asian community. Since Asians only represent 20%-30% of the population, you can see that they are over represented.
“I have encountered cases of blindness and deafness. There was one poor girl who had to have an oxygen tank on her back and breathe from a hole in the front of her neck.
“The parents were warned they should not have any more children. But when the husband returned again from Pakistan, within months they had another child with exactly the same condition.”
OMGGG cue Delieverance theme song LOL!
They’re not already inbred?
There are no contemporary studies that indicate cousins have children with significantly higher than normal birth defects. Fears of cousins who marry having children with birth defects are indeed exaggerated. Simply marrying within your own race increases the odds of birth defects. Marrying within your own town further increases your chances. Cousin couples have only a slightly higher incidence of birth defects than non-related couples.
http://www.cousincouples.com/info/facts.shtml
Inbreeding, would explain much! ;-)
Another aspect of The Religion of Peace.
Now that is an edit I can live with. ;-)
Dueling Sitars?
All that’s required are the body mechanics to strap on a bomb and detonate it. All other brain and body functions are merely superfluous.
Dueling darbukas.
I think so LOLOLOL!
Well you know what if they decided remake Deliverance they could put probalbly Islamic rage boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esl2NNOtHQE
Saudi Arabia is said to have gigantic problems along these lines; according to some reports every fourth or fifth person you see has two heads, a tail, hooves, or something of the sort.
Up until a hundred years ago, it’s likely most everyone would be marrying a cousin. Most people didn’t travel more than 50 miles from where they were born in their lifetime.
It gets to be slim pickins if you rule out your cousins under those circumstances.
My parents were distant cousins and my grandparents were first cousins and I don’t have any genetic problems other than that sixth toe on my left foot :-).
I think the point is that they have consistently been doing this for generations. Add the likely fact that not everyone has been getting brides from out of Pakistan and you might be looking at some families that are in worse shape than others, much as if they were isolated on an island (which, in a way, I guess you could say they are, just more-so than they need to be except for their marriage habits).
I think that is why Afghanis are so close with them,...they keep wondering who the Paki's first cousins will marry, after the Paki's are known to marry their first cousins.
Rural Pakistanis have been inbreeding to maintain family wealth since at least the Ghorid conquests of the 11th century.
Now, I can’t say that more diplomatically than that and I wouldn’t want to be the government employee who was assigned to mention this to the public while maintaining one’s life and limb and reaching one’s retirement and pension age unscathed.
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