Posted on 09/29/2025 4:20:28 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) has come under fire for potentially prioritizing cultural sensitivity over significant health concerns after it published a report last week questioning a major issue of public debate — should first-cousin marriages be banned?
Debate over the issue heightened earlier this year after U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would not ban the practice outright, despite known risks to future generations, as children born from first cousins are at increased risk for diseases like sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis.
Starmer, along with members of his Labour government, has argued that education should be prioritized instead of overreaching government mandates.
The article, which was posted to the NHS’s Genomics Education Program's website and titled, "Should the UK government ban first-cousin marriage," had been removed by Monday morning, and Fox News Digital could not gain direct access to the report, nor did the NHS immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions.
According to U.K.-based media outlets, the article caused some uproar after it suggested there were certain "benefits" to first-cousin marriages, including "stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages," the Telegraph reported.
The NHS report also noted that inter-family marriages have "long been the subject of scientific discussion" due to the increased risk of inherited diseases, and that first-cousin marriages have been legal in the U.K. since the 1500s, when King Henry VIII married Catherine Howard, his ex-wife’s cousin.
First cousin marriages are also not federally banned in the U.S., where the practice is still permitted in 20 states.
The article also noted that there are risks of genetic disorders related to other external factors like alcohol use during pregnancy and smoking. The age of the parents can also impact certain disorders.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
If there was a study, the should just publish it. That way, people can either pick it apart, or support it.
In the UK, and parts of the US, Muslim communities or other foreign immigrant populations (naturalized or now citizens) are ‘sensitive’ about it. See our Congresswoman who married her brother for details.
Close blood relations are much more likely to share harmful recessive genes, making it more likely their children will express the gene. It’s ironic; Darwinists assumed close intermarriage was a way to concentrate “superior genes” to assure a master race kept improving. Instead it turned out to be a breeding ground for crippling disabilities. (Darwin himself married his 1st cousin.)
No need for a study. Simple biology tells you it isn’t going to end well. My father was a physician and the birth defects from close relation marriage in the Amish community were horrible.
No need for a study. Simple biology tells you it isn’t going to end well. My father was a physician and the birth defects from close relation marriage in the Amish community were horrible.
No need for a study. Simple biology tells you it isn’t going to end well. My father was a physician and the birth defects from close relation marriage in the Amish community were horrible.
muslims are sad
“Starmer, along with members of his Labour government, has argued that education should be prioritized instead of overreaching government mandates.”
Yeah wouldn’t want the government telling muzzies what to do. That’s reserved for the natives.
“Starmer, along with members of his Labour government, has argued that education should be prioritized instead of overreaching government mandates.”
Yeah wouldn’t want the government telling muzzies what to do. That’s reserved for the natives.
What does the fact that Henry 8th married two women who were cousins of each other have to do with this issue. It would only be an important fact if the king had been cousin to one or both of the women.
I have seen it suggested that one reason cousin (1st or 2nd) marriage is common in Islamic countries is because women are so sheltered from the outside world, that these marriages keep social contact all in the family. A separate reason is that it helps keep the wealth and property in the family.
It is a known fact that in ancient Egypt, a pharaoh might marry his sister.
Habsburg Jaw
That alone should dissuade people from thinking it’s a good idea.
But not much autism in the Amish communities? Wonder why?
The muzzies ain’t gonna like this.
Why is first cousin marriage is such a big deal now.
Until 1907, it was illegal in England for a man to marry his dead wife’s sister, regardless that no consanguinity existed.
Cultures have very different ways of thinking of this. I remember a Korean family who was insulted when the brother of a man who had married their daughter showed interest in her younger sister. It was considered ‘indecent’.
Many people in colonial and early America married cousins; it wasn’t considered such a bad thing.
Cultures are different, and times and attitudes change.
With modern science, some protections can be practiced to reduce heredity risk. A couple I know was concerned about a possible heredity birth defect in their offspring. It was a blood anomaly not unlike sickle cell, but found among white populations. Since they had good incomes they decided to have egg and sperm joined outside the body, tested for this error, and only a non affected zygote implanted in the mother. They have a healthy boy now. They tried to repeat the process for a second child, but resulting zygotes never implanted in the mother. I wonder if Covid vaccines could have caused this problem? I think I have seen reports of some women having reproduction problems after having the Covid shot.
I’m not sure biology shows it’s that likely. Of course, if it’s done repeatedly...
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