Mick Hartley

This subject keeps coming up. From 2005:

The Labour MP Ann Cryer has called for British Pakistanis to stop marrying their first cousins after a study suggested that they were more likely to have children with recessive disorders than the general population.

An investigation by BBC Newsnight claims that British Pakistanis account for 30% of all British children with recessive disorders, which include cystic fibrosis. Dr Peter Corry, a consultant paediatrician at Bradford royal infirmary, says his hospital sees a disproportionately high rate of recessive genetic illnesses….

Birmingham primary care trust estimates that one in 10 of all children born to first-cousin marriages in the city's Pakistani community either dies in infancy or goes on to suffer serious disability as a result of recessive genetic disorders. Recessive genetic illness is one of the main reasons for admission to Birmingham's children's hospital.

Two years ago it was Phil Woolas, under the perhaps unfortunate headline Minister warns of ‘inbred’ Muslims. Now we have Baroness Deech – and the figures are still astonishing, and getting worse:

The dangers of marriage between first cousins are to be highlighted by a leading professor, with a warning that their children are at risk of genetic defects.

Baroness Deech, a family law professor and crossbencher, will call next week for a “vigorous” public campaign to deter the practice, which is prevalent in Muslim and immigrant communities and on the rise.

Fifty-five per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and in Bradford the figure is 75 per cent. British Pakistanis represent 3 per cent of all births in Britain but one third of children with recessive disorders….

“Human rights and religious and cultural practices are respected by not banning cousin marriage,” she will argue. “But those involved must be made aware of the consequences….The local estimate was that 75 per cent of Bradford disabled children had cousin parents and the rate of cousin marriage in the UK Pakistani community is increasing,” Lady Deech will say.