Bradford's cousin marriage boom

British-born Pakistanis living in Bradford are more marrying a cousin these days. Unfortunately there is a high risk that their children will have health problems. Many people do not even know about these risks before marriage. Born in Bradford research project has done a research to see what the risks are by marrying a cousin. They discovered that there is more chance that their children will have genetic disorders. Many of the people think that if they marry their cousin they come into a family that loves them.  Professor Wright says, "and there are economic benefits of keeping land or other assets in the family".

My mother and father are also cousins. My mother married my father at the age of 15. At that time my father was much older than my mother. He was 25 years old. My father really liked my mother and therefore they were engaged at a very young age. My mother did not want to get married, because she was just 15 years old, but she could not tell that to her father out of respect. She did not want to let him down. Her father had made the decision for her. At that time it was very normal that the parents decide with who they had to marry and spend their life with. I have two brothers and one sister and we are all very healthy fortunately. I do not want to marry one of my cousins, because I see them as my brothers. I cannot have that kind of feelings for them. My parents are not that strict. I can chose with who I want to marry! Many people think that if they marry their cousin there will be no problem, because they are family. It is definitely not true! It does not matter if you marry a stranger of your cousin there will always be some problems.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9714000/9714582.stm