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The NHS has been accused of bowing to political correctness by promoting the benefits of marriages between cousins, despite these unions having an increased risk of birth defects and being used to oppress women.
Guidance, which notably highlights that cousin marriage has been permissible in Britain since Henry VIII enacted a law allowing him to wed Anne Boleyn’s cousin Catherine Howard, suggests these unions offer advantages such as stronger extended family support systems.
This practice, prevalent in the British Pakistani community, has been associated with a higher incidence of disorders like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease.
Figures show that up to 20 per cent of the children treated for congenital problems in cities such as Sheffield, Glasgow and Birmingham are of Pakistani descent, compared with 4 per cent or lower in the wider population – and treating these problems costs the NHS billions.
The guidance, released by NHS England’s Genomics Education Programme, argues that ‘although first-cousin marriage is linked to an increased likelihood of a child having a genetic condition or a congenital anomaly, there are many other factors that also increase this chance (such as parental age, smoking, alcohol use and assisted reproductive technologies), none of which are banned in the UK’.
It claims inter-marriage offers benefits which include ‘stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages (resources, property and inheritance can be consolidated rather than diluted across households),’ and that as banning the practice would ‘stigmatise certain communities and cultural traditions’, the authorities should instead offer ‘genetic counselling, awareness-raising initiatives and public health campaigns’.
The practice, which is common in the British Pakistani community, has been linked to a greater prevalence of disorders such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease
And it says ‘although children of first cousins have an increased chance of being born with a genetic condition, that increase is a small one: in the general population, a child’s chance of being born with a genetic condition is around 2-3 per cent; this increases to 4-6 per cent in children of first cousins. Hence, most children of first cousins are healthy’.
Responding to the guidance, Tory MP Richard Holden said that the Conservatives would legislate to ban marriage between first cousins on the grounds that it ‘destroys integration, women’s rights and the health of those involved’.
Mr Holden told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Our NHS should stop taking the knee to damaging and oppressive cultural practices.
The Conservatives want to see an end to cousin marriage as a back door to immigration too, but Labour are deaf to these sensible demands.
Sir Keir Starmer should stop running scared of the misogynistic community controllers and their quislings who appear in the form of cultural relativist obsessed sociology professors, and ban a practice the overwhelming majority, from every community in Britain, want to see ended for good.’
Dr Patrick Nash, an expert on religious law and director of the Pharos Foundation social science research group in Oxford, said it was ‘truly dismaying to see NHS England publishing official ‘educational’ material that promotes the supposed social benefits of cousin marriage without even mentioning its proven links to honour violence, gender discrimination, multifarious forms of clan corruption, and the immense cost to the taxpayer’.
Dr Nash added: ‘Cousin marriage is incest, plain and simple, and needs to be banned with the utmost urgency – there is no ‘balance’ to be struck between this cultural lifestyle choice and the severe public health implications it incurs.
‘This official article is deeply misleading and should be retracted with an apology so that the public is not misled by omission and half-truths.’
This graphic, from NHS material distributed to couples in Bradford, explains some of the genetic risks of having children with a close relative. Two parents with a recessive gene have an increased chance of having a child with an inherited condition
Existing legislation states the prohibited degrees of relationship for marriage include those to a sibling, parent or child, but not marriages between first cousins, like Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
A YouGov poll earlier this year found that three quarters of Britons support a ban, with only 9 per cent thinking the law should remain as it is.
The NHS guidance also argues that ‘marriage between first cousins, known as consanguineous marriage, has been practised for centuries across many cultures’.
It states that ‘UK laws allowing first-cousin marriage date back to the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century: having broken with Rome in order to marry Anne Boleyn, Henry passed a new law that enabled him to marry her cousin, Catherine Howard’.
The NHS Genomics Education Programme did not respond to a request for comment.
