An International team of scientists discovered that giving birth to children with genetic defects as a result of wed lock between cousins was no greater risk than in case of women becoming pregnant after 40 years.
Professor Diane Paul of Massachusetts University and Hamish Spencer of the University of Otago in New Zealand, leaders of the study, said "Women in their forties are not made to feel guilty about having babies and the same should apply to cousins who want to marry."
The scientists believe that the laws against cousin marriage are based on false fears. An over all review of the studies show that birth defects in children of cousins is significantly smaller than the general assumption.
Spencer clarified that, “Neither the scientific nor social assumptions behind such legislation stand up to close scrutiny. Such legislation reflects outmoded prejudices about immigrants and the rural poor and relies on over-simplified views of heredity. There is no scientific grounding for it."
Both the scientists reported that birth defects are 1.7 percent to 2 percent higher in children born to first cousins than the risk of congenital defects in the general population. Though, there is a 4.4 percent higher risk than the usual of dying in childhood, it still does not justify the ban. This was approximately, the same risk women take to bear children when in their forties and no one ever “suggests they should be prevented from reproducing.”
Besides China, Taiwan, North and South Korea, U.S. is the only developed country where the practice of marriage in first cousins is banned in 31 states. The only exception is in special cases where permission is granted through genetic counseling or where either one of the partners is sterile or beyond reproductive age.
Robin Bennett, a genetic counselor of the University of Washington, said, "I'm aware of people who have been afraid to tell people that they're in love with their cousins, who've become pregnant and potentially terminated a pregnancy based on false information. Or they didn't marry the person they loved because of their concerns."
In UK, the issue came to the fore front when the immigration officer Phil Woolas focused on marriages in first cousins in the Asian communities. He stated that this resulted in a large number of children with health problems. "A lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability [in children]."
Early studies in human genetics had suggested that children of genetically related parents showed a higher than average incidence of birth defects.
The study was published in the Journal Public Library of Science.
i donno
well... i m frm mumbai, India. i mwil b getting married to my 1st cousin... v deeply luv each other bt i jus found out few days back tht thr r risks nt 4 us bt for our children... v both r really worried abt it nd v dnt knw hw 2 solve it... coz thr isnt any cure to change the genes
or sumthing!!! my uncle and aunty r also 1st cousins and thy hav 2 children... bt thy both r abnormal kids... nd i dnt wna b in a situation lyk tht...!!!
first cousin
I am From Nagpur , 29 M . I love my first cousin and she also loves me since 6 years , but our parents are not allowing us .what should we do?
Further Clarification
I am a Christian - RC; a Tamil from TN. In my community, cross-cousin marriages were common. Though the Catholic church forbids it, there was a provision to seek exemption from the local Bishop. The Hebrew Scriptures is full of cases of cousin marriages (for instance, the wife of Isaac and the wives of Jacob were from among their kins!) Even the Hebrew myth of Adam and Eve could be anomalous to others, like the Kikuyus of East Africa, since it presupposes that the human progeny continued from the same stock. Therefore, I do not agree that Islam is an important confound in this discussion, but culture is. So, it is possible that, as in other Islamic taboos and casuistry, Islam's attitude to cousin-marriages could be an overflow of the Arabic/Semitic culture, just as most of the casuistry of the Catholic Church is Roman.
I do concur with most of the sociological advantages expressed above, by C.S. Radhakrishnan. We could add an economic advantage: in the context of the Indian dowry system, endogamous marriage within the clan ensured that wealth was circulated within the clan.
As for reference to the 'Asian community', I do find this an over-simplification. It is a pity that while people are generally so sensitive to make subtle distinctions about their in-group (for instance, consider the distinctions in the UK about being English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish), they tend to be simplistic in their perception of other groups.
Not just Muslims
Marriage among cousins was very common in Hindu's too. This is true atleast in my place (Chennai,India)
Disclaimer: I am a hindu and a child of married cousins
I agree. It should state
I agree. It should state "Muslims encourage marriages between cousins" rather than the "asian community". I come from India in the Punjab region and marriage between first cousins is not allowed. The same goes for most other parts in Asia. Its only Muslims who really have a lot of marriages between first cousins. In many parts of the world first cousins are seen as brothers and sisters anyway.
Marriage among first cousins
I come from a community in Kerala,INDIA in which cross-cousin marriages were socially mandatory.The practice got slowly reduced under the impact of the misguided western medical conclusions based on random ( or doctored)samples studied in otherwise genetically risky communities and pronounced as valid for all consanguinine marriages.Consanguinine marriages are to be evaluated for their total worth to the families rather than genetics alone , on the basis of incomplete and hasty studies.A marriage in which both partners have common relatives in good numbers ensured that marital problems , if at all any arose, would get sorted out with their help.The most important advantage of the system was that the partners entered into matrimony with the full knowledge of each other's plus and minus points, which made adjustments and reconciliation much easier. Even in rare cases where there were irreconcilable disputes or incompatibility, a replacement partner also came from the same stock, which ensured that children from the first marriage were taken good care of by the larger family and not left to suffer discrimination and neglect.Even the estranged partners never felt enmity, but adjusted to the fact of incompatibility, and participated in common social functions.
The social security provided thus to the separated women was extremely valuable. Their second marriage was also easy since everyone in the clan knew of the circumstances of the separation and a matching partner within the family ,willing to accept the divorcee was, most of the time, available.In the marginal cases where such marriages produced children suffering from congenital defects, the larger family always had enough of spare, non-working elders in the family who would take care of such persons, jointly or individually.
One other factor in the cross-cousin marriages and close cousin marriages is that they tend to favor the production of extremely intelligent , heroic children as much or in larger proportion than imbeciles or genetically defective ones. The theory of Eugenics ,in fact ,originated from the cross mating of such persons leading to desired traits being obtained.
At age 66, I am now a sworn believer in the old system and do my best to encourage the revival of the beneficial custom. Of course there are certain caveats. If there are not enough of blood relations living within easy reach, the nuclear families may not get the full range of benefits I have cited above.Another thing is that the custom referred to above did restrict brothers' children from getting married to each other, counting them as actual brothers and sisters. Similar restriction applied to children of sisters also. This, I believe was in some way a plan to reduce the genetic risks, if any.But the Islamic cultures have encouraged marriage among paternal cousins, while disfavoring the maternal ones. The conclusion is that the practice of cross-cousin marriages is more sound and worth resurrecting.
Throughout my time in the
Throughout my time in the UK, I could never understand the scope of this term 'Asian Community'? I mean how many Hindus get married to their cousins, I really don't understand why the press in UK is scared to mention the religion bias in this kind of a news article.
Write clearly.... Muslims encourage marriages between cousins!
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