Marrying in the Family : Biology Disputes Taboos Surrounding 'Kissing Cousins'

ABCNews ^ | 3/5/04 | John Stossel

[FITZ]

I don't think the risks are all that low --- cousins would share (in most cases) TWO grandparents. That makes the risk about 1 in 8 of both carrying the same defective gene. In cases where cousins are from two brothers marrying two sisters --- double cousins --- the risk is much higher. Second cousins only have about a 1 in 16 risk of carrying the same defective gene which is about the same risk you have with a total unrelated stranger. Hybrids are healthier.

[The Toll]

I'm southern and I must admit my cousin is a total babe. What's a redneck spose to do! Just kidding. She is hot though.

[CyberCowboy777]

It's not about cousins, it is a turn of the thermostat.

Call into question every cultural and societal decision and position until every form of behavior is accepted by default.

I could care less if a man can't get laid outside his family, just don't expect me to condone it and if you want a law changed to allow your marriage, go through the process just as we all do.

[CyberCowboy777]

Who are you to tell me I cannot marry my Mother?

[FITZ]

In my family one of my adopted cousins decided it was okay to date a cousin because they weren't biologically related --- it was still considered weird --- their moms being sisters and luckily for everyone they broke it off quickly.

[Condor51]

Marry your cousin, sure no problem - except your kids will look like the banjo player in Deliverance -- or this guy;

I'm gonna make you squeal like a pig!

[verity]

It's not the "kissing" that is the problem, it's the other thing that results in extreme banjo playing.

[Rifleman]

Inbreeding is no bad thing, as long as you start with good stock and cull the worst third of the offspring. The problem is that, the Saudi Royals for example, failed to do either.

[Malsua]

"I may be your husband, but I'm still yer father"
-White Trash Disaster Trailer(an SNL skit that's a riot).

[FITZ]

But breeding humans --- how are you going to cull? It's easier with animals --- you just neuter or spay the less than perfect when you're inbreeding --- but even with that inbred animals are not the best, even if they have some traits you wanted, they're usually mentally not the best.

A one time breeding of cousins isn't so much the problem because it bring together the same genes for one generation --- but when it's done for generation after generation, after a while all the genes are the same.

[BartMan1]

I think you're off base.

Franklin and Eleanor were first cousins in my recollection, but I am not where I can find a reference to prove it.

[BartMan1]

Beg pardon. You were right.

"In the fall of 1902, while FDR was still at Harvard, he began to see more and more of his distant cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. A year later, FDR asked for her hand, and the two of them were married on March 17, 1905. The daughter of Elliot Roosevelt and Anna Hall, Eleanor was a member of the Oyster Bay branch of the Roosevelt family. She was also the niece of a man FDR much admired, Theodore Roosevelt, who was President at the time of their marriage and gave Eleanor away in the absence of her deceased father. The couple had six children, five of whom survived infancy. In the first years of their marriage, Eleanor's attention remained primarily focused on her family, but as the years passed, she would become more and more involved in issues of public policy and social justice."

They were in fact fifth cousins.

[Rifleman]

Oh, sure. You can't just inbreed to maintain a healthy population. You must also outbreed. But the inbreeding lets you select and maintain characteristics. As to culling people, that is the problem and the reason that marryin' inside the family (very often) is a bad idea.

[sawmill trash]

"In some Middle Eastern countries, almost half of all marriages are to cousins."

THERE'S the problem !!!

[MineralMan]

"I could care less if a man can't get laid outside his family, just don't expect me to condone it and if you want a law changed to allow your marriage, go through the process just as we all do."

---

My marriage? I'm not married to my cousin. And I don't much care whether you condone cousins marrying or not. The law in over half the states allows it. That's the end of it.

[VOA]

You and your mom, your sister, both your sisters, your dog, ...

All at once!

It's gonna' be schadenfreude when the gay marriage crowd arrives to say
"you can't do that with marriage!" when all the polygamists and bestiality
marriage advocates surface.

[longtermmemmory]

They already have, there are two cases in Utah.

So if the man files for divorce, will the two women be homosexual married?

[P.O.E.]

Great way to scam on benefits, estate tax planning, etc.

No need to actually have sex (who's going to check?). Especially good for senior citizens who are looking for ways to plan their golden years. Although if my accountant suggested it to me, I'd probably find a new one pronto.

[longtermmemmory]

Twenty-four states still forbid cousin marriages. HOWEVER ALL 50 STATES RECONIZE THOSE COUSIN MARRIAGES FROM THE 26 STATES THAT ALLOW COUSIN MARRIAGES. A fact not lost on homosexuals.

[longtermmemmory]

those are called civil unions...