Is there anyone around you who is married to cousins?

Professor Beato conducted a survey in 11 countries and found that the probability of a non-consanguineous couple giving birth to a deformed baby is 2, while the probability of a consanguineous couple giving birth to a deformed baby only increases to 4.

According to Australian media reports, the latest research by Australian scientists recently found that most children born from cousin marriages are healthy. His view immediately triggered widespread controversy. .

Scientists in Western Australia are now challenging the idea that incestuous marriages in humans will give birth to unhealthy babies. This highly controversial topic has always troubled people. In the past, everyone has always believed that consanguineous marriages will give birth to deformed babies. These children will suffer from a variety of diseases, such as heart disease, mental retardation, deafness, and even blindness. In 2001, an Australian scientific report published in an authoritative magazine claimed that the chance of having a child with deformity is three times higher if cousins ??get married than if they get married to non-consanguineous relatives. However, Alan Beato, a professor of comparative genomics at Murdoch University, has spent 30 years studying this topic and found that most children born from cousin marriages are healthy.

In Western Australia, about 500 couples are married between cousins. Professor Allen concluded through research: "In Western culture, there is a common belief that cousin marriage leads to genetic tragedy. However, a large number of facts prove that this concept is wrong. Cousins ??can also give birth to healthy babies."

The marriage between the famous scientist Einstein and his wife was a marriage between cousins

Professor Beato conducted research in 11 countries and found that The probability of a non-consanguineous couple giving birth to a deformed baby is 2, while the probability of a consanguineous couple giving birth to a deformed baby only increases to 4. He also found that the mortality rate of infants born to consanguineous couples is only 1.2. This conclusion coincides with his 2002 study: the probability of a deformed baby born to a cousin who is married is less than 3. The issue sparked a lively medical debate at the Royal Society's Medical Symposium in east London, with some researchers and politicians claiming that in the UK, incest marriages would lead to very serious consequences, with their children likely to be deformed or even premature. Died young. The opposition represented by Professor Beato spoke: "As for the genetic tragedy of marriage, I think it is more related to alcoholism and excessive smoking." Many celebrities like Einstein, Darwin and rock musician Jerry Lee Lewis ( Jerry Lee Lewis), etc., they are all married between cousins. Marriage between cousins ??is common in some countries, such as Pakistan, South Asia and the Middle East.

At this debate, a doctor strongly agreed with Professor Beato. He claimed that the chance of having a baby with defects in a marriage between cousins ??is only 4. This ratio is nothing in genetics. So there is no need to worry about genetic problems.

Professor Beato says the common belief that cousin marriage is extremely rare is wrong. In fact, the phenomenon of cousins ??getting married is common in many areas on the planet. The combined population of these areas exceeds 1 billion, and about 20 to 50 of the marriages there are related by blood relatives. Professor Beato believes that as more immigrants enter Australia, the number of first-cousin marriages will increase. In view of the large number of cousin marriages, Bitotism calls for more in-depth medical research on this issue to better explain this mystery.

The chances of an average couple (normal, young, and not related by blood) to give birth to a child with severe deformities is about 3-4.

The same situation occurs for cousins ????and couples. The chance rate is only slightly higher, about 5,

It is only about the same as the chance of giving birth to the next generation of older mothers (41 years old).

In addition, the Marriage Ordinance, Chapter 181 of the Laws of Hong Kong 》The appendix "Relationships by Blood and Marriage" does not stipulate that cousins ??cannot get married.

Hong Kong laws are based on British laws, and cousins ??in English are cousins.

That is to say, it is not illegal to marry between cousins ??or between cousins.

In the five thousand years of Chinese civilization, only the Ming and Qing dynasties prohibited the marriage of cousins ??(and abandoned it halfway); 18 in the United States States do not prohibit cousin marriage, including California, Alaska, New York, Florida, Hawaii, etc. Cousin marriage accounts for 0.1 of the total population, Japan does not prohibit cousin marriage at all, accounting for 0.4 of the total population, Israel, most Arab countries, Pakistan, Turkey and other countries None are prohibited. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iraq exceed 30.

As for allowing cousins ??to marry, some legal experts have proposed that this is a measure to make marriage more humane. However, those who object to this point out scientific evidence, because a large number of genetic and biomedical results have long shown that marriage between close relatives, including cousins, is indeed detrimental to the growth and development of offspring, such as causing mental retardation. First, as many cousins ??raise substantive issues, prohibiting cousins ??from marrying violates the principle of freedom of marriage. Secondly, from the perspective of the law itself, whether cousins ??can get married has different practices in different countries and regions, but there are not many who prohibit cousins ??from getting married. Even in China, marriage between cousins ??has not been prohibited in modern times. For example, the "Draft Relatives Law" (Article 82) formulated by the National Government, which was announced in December 1930 and came into effect on May 5, 1931, did not prohibit the marriage of cousins. One of the clauses is: Close relatives are not allowed to marry, but cousins ??are not subject to this restriction. The "Draft of Relatives Law" quoted the content of the "Existing Laws of the Qing Dynasty" promulgated in 1910 (the second year of Xuantong), indicating that the Qing Dynasty did not prohibit cousins ??from marrying for a certain period of time. The 1950 Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China did not prohibit the marriage of cousins. Only the 1980 Marriage Law prohibited the marriage of collateral blood relatives within the third generation. This actually targeted the marriage of cousins.

Thirdly, from a eugenic perspective, the evidence that science can provide cannot completely prove that the offspring of cousins ????married are bad or mentally retarded. Some modern scientific research results and surveys believe that marriage between cousins ??is not detrimental to future generations. Researchers at the National Society of Genetic Counseling conducted six large studies of thousands of babies from 1965 to August 2000, including offspring of cousins. The results show that marrying cousins ??does not pose a significant risk to offspring.

The study pointed out that the genetic defects of the offspring of ordinary people who are not related by blood are 3% to 4%, while the genetic defects of the offspring of cousins ??are 4.5%. In other words, the offspring of cousins ??are only 0.5% to 1.5% more genetically defective than the offspring of unrelated people, and the average difference is only 1%. Another American geneticist, Robin. Bennett believes that the probability of birth defects in offspring caused by the marriage of first cousins ??is only 2% to 3% higher than that of ordinary people. In other words, the risk of birth defects in the offspring of a first-cousin marriage is about the same as the risk of an average woman giving birth at age 41.

Many cases in history have also proved that the marriage of first cousins ??does not necessarily cause the offspring to be mentally retarded or have other defects in the offspring