Health Secretary Wes Streeting today said the NHS should apologise for suggesting first-cousin marriages can offer benefits, despite the known risk of birth defects.
The health service was accused of ‘taking the knee’ to political correctness in the guidance published on NHS England’s Genomics Education Programme website.
The guidance, revealed by The Mail on Sunday and since taken down, outlined the risks but said first-cousin marriage is linked to ‘stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages’.
It claimed banning the practice would ‘stigmatise certain communities and cultural traditions’, the authorities should instead offer ‘genetic counselling, awareness-raising initiatives and public health campaigns’.
This is despite research, including from the long-running Born in Bradford study, showing children from first-cousin marriages are more likely to have speech and language difficulties, less likely to reach a ‘good stage of development’ and have more GP practice appointments.
