Research downplays risk of cousin marriages

USA TODAY ^ | 4/4/02 | Richard Willing

[Rockitz]

Now for something completely different- A man with three buttocks.

John Cleese, Monty Python

[dighton]

Case in Point

[ColdSteelTalon]

God specifically prohibited first cousin marriages for a reason. He knew that genetic diversity is the best way for the genetic health of a species...

[VadeRetro]

Us West Virginians already knew all of this.

[Tall_Texan]

Two thoughts:

1. Just what we need - more potential guests for The Jerry Springer Show.

2. Do we really want to emulate the marrying practices of Arab lands? I mean, they don't seem to be producing the brightest minds as recent events have demonstrated.

[LibertyGirl77]

At the Canaan Valley Store in Davis, WV, there is a large rack of bottles with homemade labels with a sign above it: "West Virginia moonshine is LEGAL and it is SOLD HERE!!!"

[Orual]

Case in Point

[texlok]

If you can't keep it in your pants, keep it in the family!

[monkey]

"But there's no good social or biological reason that should be.

What percentage of a person's ancestors, going back 100,000 years (when people lived in kin groups), mated with their cousins, siblings, or other relatives? Perhaps nonrelative mating, like nuclear families, is a relatively recent social invention. Cousin marriage has the added binding agent of blood relation.

[FormerLib]

"West Virginia moonshine is LEGAL and it is SOLD HERE!!!"

"If it's not from Scotland, it's crap!"

[texlok]

What percentage of a person's ancestors, going back 100,000 years (when people lived in kin groups), mated with their cousins, siblings, or other relatives?

All kidding aside, even just the past two hundred years in some parts of the country (not talking about deep south either) marriages between cousins was common - there wasn't exactly a large pool of potential mates to choose from in many small towns until this past century. I'm sure everybody has had a few kissin' cousins in their past.

[Sabertooth]

God specifically prohibited first cousin marriages for a reason. He knew that genetic diversity is the best way for the genetic health of a species...

I don't disagree, but I think that there are also common sense social reasons.

For example, God prohibited men from marrying a woman and her widowed mother, in a time when polygamy was still practiced. There's no genetic reason for that, but it's still incest of a sort. He understood the emotional devastation of such unions and the rage it could spawn.

When cousins are prohibited from marrying, and incest is taboo, it not only prevents intra-family dogfights, it also expands the pool of men with no sexual interest in a given woman and who would be motivated protect her from exploitation and rape.

[monkey]

It's interesting that Darwin, of all people, married his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood. She was quite rich (from the Wedgewood pottery family), so it probably had something to do with survival of the fittest.

[Sabertooth]

It's interesting that Darwin, of all people, married his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood. She was quite rich (from the Wedgewood pottery family), so it probably had something to do with survival of the fittest.

Keep in mind, Darwin was totally unaware of genetics, Mendel's discoveries not being widely disseminated until after CD died.

[PatrickHenry]

This cousin stuff is tame. I'm waiting for the brother-sister research. We have no good data since the days of the Pharaohs, and a lot of creationists need the information NOW!

[Always Right]

"I see nothing wrong with inbreeding!"

[monkey]

He was well aware of the potential danger of inbreeding from his own observations of plants and animals, and fretted slightly about the marriage. They ended up having ten children.

[Wonder Warthog]

"All kidding aside, even just the past two hundred years in some parts of the country (not talking about deep south either) marriages between cousins was common - there wasn't exactly a large pool of potential mates to choose from in many small towns until this past century. I'm sure everybody has had a few kissin' cousins in their past."

Bingo! When I was growing up in a small Southern community, it always bugged the heck out of me that the best looking women were always my cousins.

[Sabertooth]

This cousin stuff is tame. I'm waiting for the brother-sister research. We have no good data since the days of the Pharaohs, and a lot of creationists need the information NOW!

There was an episode of Jerry Springer once, where gorgeous, voluptuous 21 year-old identical twins were lovers.

I mean, that's what a friend told me.