Should Cousins Marry?

For the sake of this note, we are not going into questions
Vike 'Should anyone marrys and worsen the population problem!, or !Is
it better to marry than to burn?! Any couple that {8s contemplating
marriage needs to confront a whole range of pressing questions, and we
hope that whether cousins or note a couple will be asking them with
areat seriousness, deliberation and hone,

In addition to all of those, cousins inherently do face additiona)
challenges that come cut of thelr orior family relationships, and these
special ones are the on)y ones that will be faced here,

Two things come to minds the issues that arise from family
tradition, and those from genetic or biological relatedness, I do not
kmow Of any factual data om the success or failure of marriages as a
funetion of the common traditions of the mates, Commonsense would say
that large differences in economic, soetal, religious outlook may be
sources of misunderstandings in the Sater married life of a couple;
and a8 cousina are more likely than the average to share these things
they May be relatively free of those burdens, Commonsense also suggests
that mates May become bored {# there are mo differences} but even cousins
apa likely to have different life experiences and perspectives, There is
Some danger that cousin=marriages have been arranged to suit the convenience
of others; but even here there is little factual evidence om how this
affects the outcome, Obviously such matters will vary enormously with the
immediate cujtural background that the couple brings into the marriage,
and the setting of their future life,

The more obvious questions are "What about the children?", and "Is
there a social interest in discouraging such marriages om account of the
possible hazards to the genetic quality of the population?" There are so
many taboos about clese marriages in many cultures and religious faiths,
and in some state jaws, that is is obvious many people harbor these
questions,

First, it should be stressed that inbreeding does mot tn any way
Generate "bad genes", that is genetic factors that may cause disease or
impair the functioning of the child, This is a superstition that has
grown over the centuries, from the observation that inbreeding tends
to expose the genetic defects already carried by almost every individual
of the species, These defects are the legacy of evolution, the mutations
without which higher organisms and human beings could never have emerged
Cut of the Primeval coze, millions and billions of years ago,

The exposure of previous mutations is not to be taken Vightlys
everyone of us is carrying 2 of 3 "bad genes" in a masked conditions in
a way that only only be revealed by the bad luck of meeting a partner with
a similar defect, Im practical terms, first eousins who marry have to face
the fact that they will have about twice the risks of bad tuck with the
genetic dice as do unrelated partners when they have children, It has to
be said that women whe have children after age 35, of couples who have
children knowing that there are definite hereditary problems in their
ancestry are taking similarly increased risks, Whether cousins should
marry Cand have childrens) in the face of these concerns {8 an ethical]
Problem they alone must answer, However, the risks of disaster are greatly
inereased for cousins who are also carriers of known genetic diseases!
they may be increasing the odds of a bad result from jess than 12100
(the general average) to over 12:4, For that reason, the least advice
that should be pressed on cousinemates, before they have children, is te
visit a genetic counselor and get informed advice about their own specific
Situations, Pather than try to play the odds that apply to the whele average
population,

Joshua Lederberg