The NHS is teaching midwives the ‘benefits’ of cousin marriage despite it increasing the risk of birth defects, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
New guidance says concerns about the risks of congenital diseases are ‘exaggerated’ and ‘unwarranted’ on the grounds that ’85 to 90 per cent of cousin couples do not have affected children’. The national average rate for unaffected children is 98 per cent.
Admitting there are some ‘risks to child health associated with close relative marriage’, the guidance says these should ‘be balanced against the potential benefits… from this marriage practice’.
And marrying a relative – fairly common in the Pakistani community – can offer ‘economic benefits’ as well as ’emotional and social connections’ and ‘social capital’, the document says.
It adds that staff should not ‘stigmatise’ predominantly South Asian or Muslim patients who have a baby with their cousin, because the practice is ‘perfectly normal’ in some cultures.
Critics have accused the NHS of turning a blind eye to an ‘indefensible cultural practice’.
Richard Holden, a Tory MP campaigning to ban cousin marriage, said: ‘There are no benefits to marriage between first cousins, only massive downsides for health, welfare, individual rights and the cohesiveness of our society.’
Hellbound and Down 