The NHS Says First-Cousin Marriage Is Linked To ‘Stronger Extended Family Support Systems And Economic Advantages’

NHS England is facing backlash after releasing training material suggesting first-cousin marriages carry social and economic advantages, despite the well-documented, well-known and catastrophic health risks for children of closely-related couples.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged the NHS to apologise for the guidance, in which they listed perceived benefits of first-cousin marriage such as “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages”.

Although the report did highlight increased chances of congenital disorders and developmental challenges, it also presented marriage between first cousins as a cultural practice with positive aspects in some communities.

Perhaps the NHS were so terrified of offending certain communities in England that they attempted to find some kind of ‘balance’, but it’s completely backfired in their faces as politicians, campaigners and healthcare professionals have all criticised the report.

The guidance now appears to have been taken down from the NHS website.

Speaking with LBC Radio, Wes Streeting criticised said: “The first I heard of this was when I saw that report, I asked immediately, ‘What on earth is going on here and what are they playing at?’

“The advice has been taken down but why was it ever there in the first place?”

In the UK, the Marriages Act forbids a number of blood relatives, step-relatives and relatives-in-law from getting married or becoming civil partners. This means you can’t marry your siblings, parent, son, daughter, aunt or uncle.

However, it is legal to marry your cousin. As it stands, the UK follows the policy of “genetic counselling”, in which first-cousin couples are educated about the risks of having children, but are free to go for it if they desire.

Between 2007 and 2010, researchers conducted the ‘Born In Bradford’ project, studying over 13,000 babies in Bradford — a region in which first-cousin marriage is “fairly common”. The study found that the risks of first-cousin marriage were greater than inheriting a recessive disorder.

It found that the child of a first cousin had an 11% chance of being diagnosed with a speech and language problem (compared with 7% of the general population).

Children of first cousins had a 54% of obtaining a “good stage of development,” compared with 64% children with non-related parents.

Children of first cousins also have a third more primary care appointments than children of non-related parents, averaging four (as opposed to three) per year.

So yeah, perhaps not worth the risk to obtain “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages”. You might get away with one first-cousin marriage in your family, but when it keeps happening repeatedly, that’s just a recipe for genetic disaster. If only there were ways to maintain extended family support systems without sh@gging each other, eh?

For the time Ricky Martin’s nephew accused him of an incestrous 7-month relationship, click HERE. Livin’ Da Vida Loca, indeed!