{"id":876149,"date":"2025-10-07T23:17:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/07\/uk-health-authority-yanks-report-praising-cousin-marriages-incest-after-backlash\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T23:17:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:17:43","slug":"uk-health-authority-yanks-report-praising-cousin-marriages-incest-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/07\/uk-health-authority-yanks-report-praising-cousin-marriages-incest-after-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"UK health authority yanks report praising cousin marriages, incest after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The since-deleted article noted that cousin unions remain common in regions like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, where they are often encouraged.\n <\/p>\n

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The UK\u2019s National Health Service has pulled down a report that described possible \u201cbenefits\u201d of first-cousin marriage after critics slammed it for downplaying serious health risks.<\/p>\n

\nThe article, published last week by NHS England\u2019s Genomics Education Programme, asked whether the government should consider banning cousin marriage. It claimed that marrying a first cousin could bring \u201cextended family support systems and economic advantages,\u201d reports<\/a> the BBC. The piece also pointed out the practice has been legal in the UK since the 1500s.<\/p>\n

\nMedical experts and campaigners said the guidance came across as promoting a practice that carries clear risks for children. On average, babies of unrelated parents face a 2\u20133 percent chance of being born with a defect or disability. For first cousins, the risk doubles to about 5 to 6 percent.<\/p>\n

\nDr. Patrick Nash of the Pharos Foundation called the NHS piece \u201ctruly dismaying.\u201d He told The Telegraph<\/a>: \u201cCousin marriage is incest, plain and simple, and needs to be banned with the utmost urgency \u2013 there is no \u2018balance\u2019 to be struck between this cultural lifestyle choice and the severe public health implications it incurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe since-deleted article noted that cousin unions remain common in regions like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, where they are often encouraged. In the West, however, the practice is largely viewed as taboo and increasingly scrutinized by doctors.<\/p>\n

\nThe report also mentioned that lifestyle factors like smoking or drinking in pregnancy carry risks too \u2014 but none of those are outlawed in the UK. The report was quietly removed from the website.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Luz Catt
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The since-deleted article noted that cousin unions remain common in regions like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, where they are often encouraged. The UK\u2019s National Health Service has pulled down a report that described possible \u201cbenefits\u201d of first-cousin marriage after critics slammed it for downplaying serious health risks. The article, published last week by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":876150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3017,267],"tags":[8167,7419],"class_list":{"0":"post-876149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-authority","8":"category-health","9":"tag-authority","10":"tag-health"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}