February 10, 2008

Pakistani First Cousin Marriage in Britain

From the Times of London:

A government minister has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society.

Phil Woolas, an environment minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the “elephant in the room”. Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: “If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there’ll be a genetic problem.”

The minister, whose views were supported by medical experts this weekend, said: “The issue we need to debate is first cousin marriages, whereby a lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability [in children].”

Woolas emphasised the practice did not extend to all Muslim communities but was confined mainly to families originating from rural Pakistan. However, up to half of all marriages within these communities are estimated to involve first cousins.

Medical research suggests that while British Pakistanis are responsible for 3% of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses.

Arranged first cousin marriages are also a vehicle for immigration fraud -- they are a way to bring in more family members.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exactly the same story was reported over two years ago, but nothing changes, so why is it being raised again now?

Anonymous said...

Of course getting rid of the primary purpose rule would have nothing to do with this?

Anonymous said...

The MSM solution is clear:

Britons and black Muslims must interbreed.

Expect to see lots more interacial relationships on TV shows in Britain (not that there aren't any now). The marching order, or meme if you will, is plain.

Anonymous said...

I live in Canada, and reportedly inbreeding is a problem in some Mennonite communities. Their solution? Invite outside men to come in and "breed" with Mennonite women. But the "date" consists of essentially a one-night stand in which everything but the bare minimum necessary for procreation is covered.

Anonymous said...

I'd be fascinated to see some source for the Mennonite stud-service story. I don't believe they are nearly as closed-off genetically as the Old Order Amish, who accept their genetic problems as the will of God.

Anyway, my understanding is that cousin-marriage isn't so much a problem as generations upon generations of repeated cousin-marriage.

Can't really see why the native Brits would care much about their imported Pakis, aside from the costs associated with putting genetically defective babies and children on the NHS tab. And as an "acceptable" pretext for expressing some good ol' fashioned ethnocentricism... not that there really needs to be an acceptable reason to favor your own kinfolks over a bunch of incomprehensible foreigners.

Anonymous said...

I read some years ago in Scientific American that first-cousin marriage in Pakistan was helpful in that the couples married earlier and therefore had a headstart in babymaking that was not nullified by the loss of more pregnancies and infants to genetic abnormalities (which were most likely fatal there, but aren't in 21st Century Britain).