Posted February 10, 200817 yr Inbreeding in Britain's Pakistani community is causing a surge in birth defects, environment minister Phil Woolas warned last night. Mr Woolas described the issue as "the elephant in the room" – too sensitive for anyone to mention. "We need to debate first-cousin marriages," said Mr Woolas, whose Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency is ethnically mixed. "A lot of arranged marriages are with first-cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability," he told The Sunday Times Although Pakistani parents produce just 3.4 per cent of the babies born in Britain that also accounts for 30 per cent of children born with genetic illnesses, researchers claim. The risks of inbreeding rise sharply if the practice is repeated over several generations. Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley, called on the NHS to warn parents about the dangers. "This is to do with a medieval culture where you keep wealth within the family," she said. Within the Pakistani community it is also widely held that first-cousin marriages, which are perfectly legal, are more stable. "I have encountered cases of blindness and deafness," Mrs Cryer added. "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... they had another child with exactly the same condition." The Birmingham Primary Care Trust has estimated that one in 10 children born to first-cousin marriages either dies in infancy or suffers serious disability as a result of recessive genetic disorders. Source : Independent on Sunday
February 13, 200817 yr I've always been a bit dubious about cousins marrying to be honest... This is by no means isolated to the Pakistani community, but it does need to be addressed... Changes to the law..? Maybe, but it's probably going to be nearly impossible to do so without it looking like you're targeting one particular section in society.. The best thing to do is to probably focus on the medical implications of cousins marrying to try to make it less desirable for first cousin marriages to take place rather than wade in and change laws which would criminalise otherwise perfectly law-abiding people....
February 13, 200817 yr theres a documentary on tv thursday ?... about a asian girl with 8 limbs..... she a human SPIDER! :lol:
February 13, 200817 yr theres a documentary on tv thursday ?... about a asian girl with 8 limbs..... she a human SPIDER! :lol: Would this be a Channel 5 "documentary" then...?
February 14, 200817 yr next tuesday on 4.... Hmmmm, well, might be little more serious minded than the sort of exploitative cr@p they come up with on C5..... :lol:
February 15, 200817 yr The same thing used to happen with the Royal Families of Europe. They are all inbred causing general doolallyness. :lol: But it's deffo not limited to Muslim communities. In my neck of the woods (aka Deliverance Territory) there are quite a few first cousin marriages. And having seen some of the offspring..... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
February 15, 200817 yr The same thing used to happen with the Royal Families of Europe. They are all inbred causing general doolallyness. :lol: But it's deffo not limited to Muslim communities. In my neck of the woods (aka Deliverance Territory) there are quite a few first cousin marriages. And having seen some of the offspring..... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: No wonder they all look funny :puke2:
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