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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Marriage between cousins is fine, say scientists |
| 2008-12-28 |
| Scientists at the University of Massachusetts in Boston have called for the taboo on first-cousin families to be lifted. They claim that the risk of giving birth to babies with genetic defects is no greater than that run by women over 40 who become pregnant. First-cousin marriages are legal in the UK but there have been calls to ban the practice because of the number of genetic defects recorded in some communities. Professor Diane Paul of the University of Massachusetts in Boston and Professor Hamish Spencer of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand have looked at the risk of defects in such babies. They claim that the risk of congenital defects is about 2 per cent higher that average, and the infant mortality rate about 4.4 per cent higher, for babies born to first-cousin marriages. This is on a par with the risk to babies born to women over 40, they claim. Professor Spencer said: "Women over the age of 40 have a similar risk of having children with birth defects and no one is suggesting they should be prevented from reproducing." The study is published in the online journal Public Library of Science. MP Phil Woolas, now the Immigration minister, claimed earlier this year that first-cousin marriages within Asian communities in Britain resulted in an increasing number of children with health problems. Most states in America have either outlawed or restricted the practice, as has China, Taiwan and both North and South Korea. Professor Spencer, an evolutionary zoologist, said these laws should be repealed, especially in America, where he said they were drafted in a way that discriminated against the rural poor and immigrants. He said: "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." People who married their first cousins include rock'n'roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis, American outlaw Jesse James, Charles Darwin and H G Wells. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #11 CS, the relevant question is what was the survival rate of the offspring of those carrying the haemophilia gene and who married fist cousins, versus those who didn't marry first cousins. Note, it's not the number who survived. Offspring of royalty had many survival advantages over the hoipolloi, which would have made the number surviving relatively high. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-12-28 23:29 |
| #10 I concur with Cornsilk Blondie. The first cousin marriage might work if the bloodline is "clean and healthy" in the first place. If not, it reinforces the problems that exist in that lineage. And there can be a lot of problems now that babies with genetic problems survive and live to procreate due to modern medicine and technology. Sorry; not PC, just a statement of fact. |
| Posted by: tipover 2008-12-28 20:30 |
| #9 Can't help but notice that Doc here says that all countries should ease these laws "especially in America". Ima spot me a 'Blame America Firster'. My hunch does, anyway. Master! Master! Wrong hunch... Dated a girl that went to college there one time... Master! Master! |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-12-28 20:21 |
| #8 Uh, not exactly, phil_b. I would think that the spectacular results of the various royal family branches in Europe would prove you wrong on that account. Hemophilia wasn't the only thing wrong with that brood. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2008-12-28 20:14 |
| #7 Now they tell me. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-12-28 19:32 |
| #6 That assumes the defects are expressed prior to having children and are seen as disqualifying for having children. Neither is necessarily true. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-12-28 18:39 |
| #5 1st cousin marriages actually decrease genetic defects in the long term (over tens of generations), because the defects are expressed, and hence eliminated from the gene pool, sooner. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-12-28 18:07 |
| #4 Better check the lineage of these UoM scientists, or soon they'll end up like Berkeley. |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-12-28 17:20 |
| #3 Were we in danger of running out of Kennedys? |
| Posted by: Formerly Dan 2008-12-28 16:44 |
| #2 No, Kennedys. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-12-28 16:40 |
| #1 are they trying too appease the muslims already |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2008-12-28 16:27 |