Cousinship is not such a dangerous property?

There's nothing wrong with cousins getting married, scientists say
Risk of babies having genetic defects 'has been overstated'The Independent, 24 December 2008

Translation: Inopressa

Scientists say that there is nothing terrible in marriages between cousins
The probability of genetic defects in their children is exaggerated

The risk of having a child with genetic defects in a marriage between cousins is no higher than that of a woman over the age of forty.

The authors of the study, published online in the journal Public Library of Science, Professors Dian Paul from the University of Massachusetts in Boston and Hamish Spencer from the University of Otago in Dunedin (New Zealand) call for the abolition of bans on marriages between cousins.

Paul and Spencer believe that the risk of having a child with birth defects in such families is only 2% higher than in ordinary families, and the infant mortality rate is about 4.4% higher. "Women over forty have the same risk of having a child with abnormalities, but no one is saying that they should not have children," says Professor Spencer.

As the author of the article Steve Connor notes, in the UK, marriages between cousins are allowed, although there are calls for their ban. In most American states, such marriages are prohibited or restricted in practice, as in China, Taiwan and North and South Korea.

Cousin marriages were quite common in Europe, especially among the elite, but at the end of the XIX century, when people became more socially active, the situation changed. Prejudices about cousin marriages were confirmed by early genetic studies, which claimed that recessive genes are more likely to manifest in children of genetically close parents and the likelihood of birth defects increases.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru25.12.2008