South Asian cousin marriages, providing perfect subjects for UK Genome project
45
LONDON: Scientists are studying Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in East London as part of the East London Genes and Health project. According to a report by The Guardian, the study attempts to identify beneficial genes protecting against various health conditions including heart disease and cancer.
Why conduct research of this sort?
Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in London are reported to have the highest rates of poor health in the UK, the Guardian report cited. They are five times more likely than the average Britisher to develop Type-2 Diabetes and twice as likely to succumb to heart disease.
Most scientific studies on genetics focus on European populations. Because of the high rates of poor health prevalent among South Asians, the research could allow scientists to provide better treatment to people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin.
How will they find these genes?
Scientists are searching for knockouts ─ mutations that block a gene from working completely. Traditionally believed to be harmful, these mutations can also be helpful ─ for instance, when they deactivate genes passing on a disease.
Knockouts are more prevalent among populations with related parents. Genetic code that carries greater resilience to disease may also easier to track down in individuals whose parents are related.
Due to the high instances of cousin-marriages in Bangladeshis (10% of the population has related parents) and Pakistanis (30%-40% of the population has related parents), these populations have a higher likelihood of receiving two copies of a rare gene instead of one, making the effects more pronounced ─ and making them the perfect subjects for a study of this kind.
What kind of methodology is being used?
The population under study will consist of 100,000 South Asian adults recruited through GP surgeries, community meetings and mosques, each of whom will be required to answer an initial questionnaire and provide a DNA sample.
Each year, follow-up tests (including blood scans and MRIs) will be conducted on 1,000 participants. People under study will be compensated for their time if they are recalled for (and attend) a second round of tests.
What do they expect to find?
Scientists expect to identify a benchmark for genetic ‘normality’ in South Asian populations, along with explanations as to why they are prone to certain health problems.
While having related parents does contribute to certain rare genetic disorders, scientists don’t believe that the diseases under study are a product of parental relatedness.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (45) Closed
Mar 13, 2015 04:24pm
Not south asian, only Pakistani.
Indians, Bangladeshis, Lankans, Nepalis amd rest of south asia does not practice marriage in blood relations as it results in genetic problems.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 05:20pm
Title of this article is misleading!
The last time I checked South Asia consists of many more countries besides Pakistan & Bangladesh.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 05:47pm
Thanks for publishing this article.
Very informative indeed.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 05:51pm
Sorry to nitpick, but what kind of entity is a 'Britisher'? Is this a person who is more British than the British?
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 06:49pm
This is precisely why Islam discourages cousin marriages. The defective gene keeps circulating within.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 06:55pm
@Rajni You are ignorant Rajni. Many communities in India have marriages within families, including Uncle niece marriages. Particularly in South India. You should educate yourself before commenting.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 07:08pm
@ga If Islam discourages cousin marriage why it is most prevalent in Muslim countries?
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 07:36pm
@ga know confused, then why does inter marriage is common in Pakistan? Even people who have migrated from Pakistan to India including non Muslims are very much in to this, why isn't it prohibited in Pakistan if it's against Islam?
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 07:41pm
@aamed ratio is very low(not even 2%) and it is highly discouraged by society, parents. In fact if you have read, north indian states , they dont allow sagotra marriages. means in same larger pool.
It is fact that muslims practice cousin marriage and suffer health issues. Actually practice is slowly going down in Indian muslims, good for them. I as Indian Muslim can proudly say that we are going in right direction, comparatively.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 07:48pm
@ga Really, I don't know; if cousin marriage is prohibited then why so many cousin marriages in Pakistani community 30-40%?? Are they not followers of Islam, they are bad example you mean?? I don't think so.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 08:00pm
@Kumar The reason for cousin marriages amongst Muslims is immigration to the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and to New Zealand. If one of your family members is living in these heavenly destinations, the only way to join them there is through marriage. All other ways are too expensive and too difficult.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 08:17pm
@Rajni Factually, there are many instances of marriages within relations in South India & also in certain communities in Maharashtra. It may be more in the case of Pakistanis but a certain percentage of Indian Hindus are also likely to marry their relations.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 08:18pm
It's a Pakistani issue not subcontinents.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 08:54pm
This problem in the Pakistani community relates to cultural practices more then it does to religion. Its a social issue nothing else. Also, this practice does occur in other South Asian Countries albeit at a much smaller scale. Educating the Pakistani community is the key.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 09:06pm
@aamed agree. To my shock!! This is absolutely true. Many hindu communities in south can marry in blood relatives especially mother side. Infact Mother in law in tamil is called ' mamiar' means mamas mother!!!
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 09:20pm
The first few humans in hinduism were called rishis and their decendants were identified by these rishi names also called gotra. Hindus never marry in the same gotra and the idea behind that was to diversify the genes. Even today Hindus do not marry in the same gotra so you end up marrying a person who was not related to you for the past few thousand years. Hindus do have the concept of arranged marriage, but never ever to a first second or even a distant cousin. The population has been so huge in hindu dominated india so chances are even lesser that you marry someone related. Also hindus are not ultra conservative , its common to hear of inter caste and inter religion even inter race marriages in india in recent years. We may be poor but we have it right.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 09:22pm
Can't we join the civilized world and ban marriages between cousins? It only leads to deformities and the problems listed above. It's just science. Please people wake up and smell the coffee. This just makes you less healthy.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 09:30pm
@Kumar because it is not prohibited by Islam preached in Pakistan at least. This guy GA is wrong! This has been a problem for generations in Pakistan and it is about time that this practice is stopped.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 10:00pm
GA, where does Islam prohibit cousin marriages? The widespread prevalence of this practice in Pakistan is most undesirable and unhealthy.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 10:39pm
Research Ethics and Safety Protocols needs to be the priority and pre requisite for making any publication anywhere on globe...Genome Rights must be conserved.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 10:52pm
too much interbreeding must stop.
Look at the skin and other genetic
illness in Muslim communities
around the world.
Recommend
0
Mar 13, 2015 11:53pm
@TooTrue Cousin marriages aren't prohibited in most western countries, and most states of the USA allow cousin marriages. In civilized world, personal choices aren't 'banned'
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 12:29am
In-breeding is unhealthy and science has shown that decades ago. Poor people who tend to be uneducated will have bad health. In the US the worst health is among the poor.
My guess is if they studied the educated well-to-do South Asians the health issues would be very different.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 12:48am
Jazib Ghori! Not true! Cousin marriages are not permissible in most states of the United States. An average American views the idea of cousin marriage with horror and considers it tantamount to incest.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 01:43am
@aamed
India is a very big country with diverse customs and practices. What you pointed out might be correct. Such customs/practices might be very localized and hold good for small regions. I don't want to dispute.
However, vast majority of us ensure that would-be bride and groom are not blood related.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 01:47am
How is it south asian ? Only Pakistanis are affected not Bangladeshis or any other community..
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 02:58am
@Rajni What is left in South Asia after India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal? Some tiny countries?
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 03:09am
@sid True in fact according to Sunni jurisprudence such as Shafi and Maliki cousin marriage is mukrah and undesirable. It is practiced in south asia including india among muslims and south Indians. The reasons are not religious at all.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 03:30am
@Umar Indian Muslims are generally poorer, less educated, and generally at the bottom when it comes.to most social indicators. Considering the level development in Pakistan at the time of her birth, we Pakistani muslims are the ones going in the right direction. We Pakistan control our own destiny, while Indian Muslims must rely on he goodwill of Hindus for their salvation.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 03:46am
I'm a Muslim Pakistani but I grew up in the west. I once brought this topic with my mum and explained her all the complications and yet she was pro-cousin marriage. There's no good argument for an ignorant person. None of these articles will change anything for those who chose to stick by traditions rather than progress.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 03:47am
@Kumar because its discouraged but not disallowed. There is social societal value in consanguinity.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 03:52am
@Rajni did the 10% intermarriages figure in Bangladesh not mean anything to you? and Indian Muslims marry within themselves a LOT. and btw, the caste and within community marriages practiced till a few decades ago within Indians roughly ends up being the same thing :)
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 04:31am
Intra-family marriages in india is alot more common than what people think.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 04:38am
Intermarriage within the Pakistani community is a cultural norm and does not have a religious aspect to it, which is why you don't see it practiced widely by Arab, African, Turkish and South East Asian Muslims.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 06:35am
@Watcher In total agreement with you, Kumar. It's only for financial gains.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 07:31am
@ga : Then why there is highest number of cousin marriage from this particular community.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 11:39am
@aamed In my community, including all other hindu communities I know explicit forbid marriage within at least 5 generations. in the very rare case it has happened, the couple is chastised. In fact some Muslim communities in also forbid cousin marriage and follow rules similar to Hindu communites. Except for tribal communities where there is some flexibility, cousin marriages are uncommon compared to Pakistan. In Haryana, the rogue cultural councils will order a thrashing if you marry your cousin. So I don't know why you are comparing the pakistani community with Indian ones.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 02:02pm
@Waqar
Where Islam is the dominant religion, cousin marriages are the most prevalent. You are wrong when you say consanguinity is common only in Pakistan. Arabs have the same problem. In fact, it is so bad there that all Arab countries in the Persian Gulf currently require advance genetic screening for all prospective married couples.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 04:29pm
@Kautiliya skin problem is due to X chromosome being always hidden behind a Black veil and thus not getting enough sunlight and thus when combined with cousin marriages for few thousand of years it becomes worst. Let alone physical issues how about mental issues?
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 05:33pm
@Waqar check Lebanon autistic and down syndrome rates.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 06:02pm
@anony
I doubt your claim. The major population of India is Hindu where one can not marry in same "gotra" i.e. bloodline. Other populations like Jain/Sikh/Christians also do not have cousin marriages. This is a practice only in Parsi and Muslim community of India. It may be there in some tribal areas as well. So you see, it is not as common as you think.
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 06:04pm
@Meet It's not against Islam, it's just discouraged in Islam. The reason why cousin marriages have been so prevalent amongst the Pakistani-Muslim communities was mainly to keep the wealth within the families (and genes indirectly too)
Recommend
0
Mar 14, 2015 06:11pm
@fawad It's not prohibited, it's only discouraged. The reason for so many cousin marriages was mainly to keep the wealth within families. That was the ideology back in those days. Also, if you track back several hundred years ago when the Islamic Empire was at large, cousin marriages were not that prevalent. This trend only started after the fall of the Ottomans and when a lot of Islamic knowledge was lost in time.
Recommend
0
Mar 15, 2015 06:38am
Pakistanis (not South Asians!) have the highest rate of people with birth defects, thanks to the phenomenon of inter-family marriage (offsprings of related parents marrying each other). This results in genetic defects, as any doctor will tell you. This coupled with the proliferating incidences of polio, which cripples Pakistani children (many of whom have, meanwhile, grown into adults) will produce a nation of people with all kinds of disabilities. Is it too late? May be, but it is still better to try to stop the rot to ensure that the next generation of unborn Pakistanis are not born with defects.
Recommend
0
Mar 16, 2015 11:27pm
@aamed incorrect. Uncle-Niece or in-ter family marriages may have been there in ancient south india but not anymore .
Recommend
0
