Socialized medicine and inbreeding. What could be better?
The UK has been having a debate about the virtues or evils of first cousin marriage largely because of its large Pakistani and other Muslim settler population where cousin marriage is a normal way of sealing tribal bonds and maintaining business relationships. It has other ‘negative’ consequences in a country with ‘free’ health care.
Researchers at the city’s university are entering their 18th year of the Born in Bradford study. It’s one of the biggest medical trials of its kind: between 2007 and 2010, researchers recruited more than 13,000 babies in the city and then followed them closely from childhood into adolescence and now into early adulthood. More than one in six children in the study have parents who are first cousins, mostly from Bradford’s Pakistani community, making it among the world’s most valuable studies of the health impacts of cousin marriage.
They found that even after factors like poverty were controlled for, a child of first cousins in Bradford had an 11% probability of being diagnosed with a speech and language problem, versus 7% for children whose parents are not related.
They also found a child of first cousins has a 54% chance of reaching a “good stage of development” (a government assessment given to all five year-olds in England), versus 64% for children whose parents are not related.
We get further insight into their poorer health through the number of visits to the GP. Children of first cousins have a third more primary care appointments than children whose parents are not related – an average of four instead of three a year.
What is notable is that even once you account for the children in that group who already have a diagnosed recessive disorder, the figures suggest consanguinity may be affecting even those children who don’t have a diagnosable recessive disorder.
In short, Pakistani Muslim tribal marriages are a huge drain on the National Health Service. There are calls for a ban on cousin marriage which is a typical socialist solution to everything, but a more sensible approach would be to say, “Marry your cousins, marry your brothers (Rep. Ilhan Omar) but then you’re no longer eligible for the NHS.”
Obviously not the way it’s going to go. The Economist sneered that any examination of cousin marriages was a “culture war”.
And the NHS is hailing how healthy cousin marriages are. Trust the science. The political science.
The NHS has been urged to apologise for publishing guidance extolling the benefits of first-cousin marriage despite the increased risk of birth defects.
Guidance published last week by the NHS England’s Genomics Education Programme says first-cousin marriage is linked to “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages”.
“Genetic counselling, awareness-raising initiatives and public health campaigns are all important tools to help families make informed decisions without stigmatising certain communities and cultural traditions,” the guidance reads.
Certain communities. And if you name those communities, the copppers will be knocking on your door at midnight.
Remember when Obama wanted NASA to focus on Muslim self-esteem? PM Keir Starmer seems to want the NHS to focus on Muslim self-esteem too.
But in completely unrelated news.
A former Labour Party politician is now reportedly serving as a diversity officer for the NHS after previously being accused of attempting to cover up the ethnicity of mostly Pakistani Muslim grooming gangs in Rotherham.
Trust the science. The sharia science.