Row over health risk to cousins who marry

The Observer ^ | May 11 2008 | Robin McKie

[allmost]

Do not inbreed. It’s bad for your children.

[allmost]

Unless you are muslim. The offspring may become enlightened at that point.

[SeeSharp]

"We should recognise that for British Pakistanis, cousin marriages represent significant cultural advantages."

"Kissing cousins" are the foundation of tribalism. That's the reason the Pope banned the practice in the middle ages.

[cricket]

This could explain a lot. . .Osama. . .Ahmadinejad - the same screaming 'mimis' in the streets, whether Iraq or Paris or Londonstan - the radical Left. . .(Liberals marrying Liberals. . .)

Whatever. . .a whole lot of 'misfitting going on'. . .

[Ezekiel]

'Many famous figures married their first cousin, including Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.'

Yikes, the Origin of Relativity?

[allmost]

Islam is the inbred religion. At it’s core. Terrible.

[gov_bean_ counter]

This is nothing. The family trees in remote areas of the United States look like telephone poles.

[allmost]

Where?

[allmost]

I see no allah-al-screw your daughter and let you live. Update me if you can.

[webheart]

The family trees in remote areas of the United States look like telephone poles.

Ha, ha. The only ethnic group that it is acceptable to slur is the Appalachians, because they are mostly white.

[Knutsdatter]

The doctors who say the risk only goes up to 4% are almost as dumb as the Muslims who defend the practice. 4% might apply if marrying cousins was only practiced by one generation, but what about when two first cousins marry, and then their offspring also marry relatives of the parents, and so on. Societies who ruled out inbreeding centuries ago knew exactly what they were doing.

Education is not what is needed here. Laws are necessary. Children with birth defects suffer all their lives, and are an expensive burden on society. Deliberately running that risk is cause for the legal system to step in.

[allmost]

In tribal muslim lands these ‘leaders’ are what we have to deal with..

[allmost]

obama o-eight boyyyyyyy.

[allmost]

I’m down with it yo...

[Question Liberal Authority]

There are restrictions on who can marry whom?

Wait until the California Supreme Court hears about this.

[MarkT]

I think therefore that a UK policy, indeed universal policy, should be established that all rag-heads be encouraged to marry at least their cousins - hell, go all the way, they should marry their brothers and sisters and parents.

[RU88]

The big problem is that the risk of birth defects and genetic disorders go up exponentially as the inbreeding goes on from one generation to the next.

[Hardastarboard]

This is a civil rights issue. Who is the government to say that my love for my first cousin / goat / cat / three other men is wrong, and prevent me from marrying all of them, simultaneously? Without all of them in my life, I feel empty. I’m being persecuted, I tell you. /sarc

[AnAmericanMother]

It's not so much a single cousin-marriage, as it is the cumulative effect of multiple cousin-marriages over an extended period of time.

Since this practice has gone on for generations, the gene pool in Britain is fairly narrow already. To continue the cousin-marriages with a smaller pool (the relatively restricted number of immigrants to Britain) just compounds the problem.

If I have a cat or a dog with a narrow pedigree (lots of line breeding already in place - I would not buy an inbred kit or pup), then I outcross. People would be well advised to do the same . . . .