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An investigation by BBC Newsnight claims that British Pakistanis account for 30% of all British children with recessive disorders, which include cystic fibrosis. Dr Peter Corry, a consultant paediatrician at Bradford royal infirmary, says his hospital sees a disproportionately high rate of recessive genetic illnesses.
He and his team have identified about 140 different autosomal recessive disorders among local children and they estimate that a typical district would see between 20 and 30.
...
Birmingham primary care trust estimates that one in 10 of all children born to first-cousin marriages in the city's Pakistani community either dies in infancy or goes on to suffer serious disability as a result of recessive genetic disorders. Recessive genetic illness is one of the main reasons for admission to Birmingham's children's hospital.
The variant genes that cause recessive genetic illnesses tend to be rare. In the general population, the likelihood of a couple having the same variant gene is 100-1. In cousin marriages, if one partner has a variant gene, the risk that the other has it too is more likely to be one in eight.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/nov/16/immigrationpolicy.politicsAnd a reply:
The Guardian's report on cousin marriage attempted to deal with a complex health issue, involving the marriage preference of a minority ethnic group, genetic risk, lay and professional understanding of this risk, and the attempts to deal with it (British Pakistanis should stop marrying cousins, says MP, November 16).
The article was prompted by a report on the BBC Newsnight programme the same day. But both items presented this valued social practice as problematic, rather than reporting on genetic advances that will allow families to make informed choices. This reflects how Britain's dominant culture continues to deal with minority ethnic health.
Locating the cause and solution to minority health issues within the cultural practices of those communities is well-documented. This ongoing approach serves to shift responsibility from policy-makers and service providers to individuals and communities; it continues to alienate minorities and hampers the process of devising responsive health services.
The view that likens cousin marriage to lifestyle issues, as reported in the article, underestimates the complex emotional and social rationale as to how people make choices about life partners. The complexity is more akin to that involved in women making choices about if, and when, to give birth. The risk of Down's syndrome increases considerably with advancing maternal age, and a woman's decision to have children in her early 20s, based on health risk alone, requires a full analysis of how that decision would impact on her emotionally, economically and socially. In recognition of a woman's right to informed choice, the NHS offers services tailored to the needs of modern women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/dec/02/mainsection.leadersandreply2The BBC report:
It is estimated that at least 55% of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and the tradition is also common among some other South Asian communities and in some Middle Eastern countries.
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British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely to have children with genetic disorders than the general population - they account for just over 3% of all births but have just under a third of all British children with such illnesses.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4442010.stm
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