Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Geneticist warns of dangers of cousin marriage (Pickled Politics)

Professor Steve Jones, a highly respected geneticist, has warned about the
dangers of inbreeding. Using Bradford as an example, he pointed out that 75%
of Pakistanis in Bradford marry their cousins:

> ?There may be some evidence that cousins marrying one another can be
harmful,? he told an audience at the Hay Festival. ?We should be concerned
about that as there can be a lot of hidden genetic damage. Children are much
more likely to get two copies of a damaged gene. ?Bradford is very inbred.
There is a huge amount of cousins marrying each other there.'

The problem occurs not as a result of a one off marriage between cousins, but
rather through persistent inbreeding. He was criticised by Mohammed Shafiq of
the Ramadhan Foundation:

> ?I know many Muslims who have married their cousins and none of them have
had a problem with their children. ?Obviously, we don?t want any children to
be born disabled who don?t need to be born disabled, so I would advise genetic
screening before first cousins marry. 'But I find Steve Jones?s comments
unworthy of a professor. Using language like ?inbreeding? to describe cousins
marrying is completely inappropriate and ...
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