Campaigners have slammed a new NHS document which highlights the supposed benefits of marriages between cousins.
Despite evidence that the practice carries an increased risk of birth defects, it says that cousin marriage offers benefits such as ‘stronger extended family support systems’.
It even highlights how it has been legal in England since Henry VIII passed a law enabling him to marry Anne Boleyn’s cousin Catherine Howard.
Aisha Ali-Khan, who has bravely spoken out about the impact of her Pakistan-born parents being first cousins, said the article – first exposed by the Mail on Sunday – was harmful.
Growing up in Keighley, West Yorkshire, three of her brothers were born with serious health difficulties – tragically none lived to the age of 18 – which she believes were linked to the ‘consanguineous’ marriage.
‘I’ve been campaigning to highlight the risks of first cousin marriage for years, and we’ve finally started to see younger members of the community start to reject the practice,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘So for the NHS to say that cousin marriage is something which has been going on for centuries just undermines what those of us with lived experience have been saying.
‘The health issues it leads to penalise women in particular, and I don’t want other families to go through what ours did.
Aisha Ali-Khan, who has bravely spoken out about the impact of her Pakistan-born parents being first cousins, said the NHS guidance was ‘wrong’ and should be withdrawn
‘This document is wrong, it should never have been published and it needs to be withdrawn immediately.’
Aneeta Prem MBE, founder of the Freedom Charity which campaigns against forced marriage and ‘dishonour’ based violence, also criticised the article.
‘First cousin marriage is not just a cultural tradition – it is a safeguarding risk,’ she told the Mail.
‘At Freedom Charity we have seen how it is tied to dishonour abuse, where young people are pressured from childhood and given little or no real choice.
‘The health evidence is clear.
‘These are preventable harms that place families and the NHS under immense pressure.
‘This is about protecting rights, not targeting communities.’
The document comes after an NHS trust compared cousin marriage to white women having children over the age of 34.
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
Material drawn up by health chiefs in Bradford – where a study found cousin marriage accounts for about 30 per cent of birth defects – suggested that the decision to marry a first cousin is no different to having a child later in life.
It described cousin marriages as a ‘cultural practice’ and likened it to white women and couples starting families later because of ‘liberal values such as preferring jobs, careers, bodily fitness and individualism’.
The latest controversial document was released by NHS England’s Genomics Education Programme.
It accepts that first-cousin marriage – common in the British Pakistani community – is linked to ‘an increased likelihood of a child having a genetic condition or a congenital anomaly’.
But it says other factors also increase this chance, such as parental age, smoking, alcohol use and assisted reproductive technologies, ‘none of which are banned in the UK’.
Additionally it says outlawing cousin marriages would ‘stigmatise certain communities and cultural traditions’ and instead calls for ‘genetic counselling, awareness-raising initiatives and public health campaigns’.
Tory MP Richard Holden has introduced a bill which would ban first cousin marriages – however Downing Street has indicated that the Government has no plans to take this step.
An NHS England spokesman said: ‘The article published on the website of the Genomics Education Programme is a summary of existing scientific research and the public policy debate.
‘It is not expressing an NHS view.’
