MP calls for ban on cousin marriages
British Pakistanis should ban the practice of marrying their first cousins, Labour MP Ann Cryer said today.
Her call comes after a Newsnight investigation revealed British Pakistanis account for 30 per cent of all children in the UK with recessive genetic disorders.
The tradition of first cousin marriages in widespread in the Pakistani community, with 55 per cent of British Pakistanis married in this way.
However, it has led to an increase in the incidence of recessive genetic disorders with cousin marriages in the Pakistani community 13 times more likely to produce children with genetic disorders.
Ms Cryer told BBC One’s Breakfast: “There is something very wrong going on and I think that the sooner that we start to have a debate about it and we start to encourage the Asian community to address it themselves by saying we have to stop this tradition of first cousin marriages.”
Supporters of cousin marriages say they offer greater security and improved family ties.
