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Tajikistan -
Central Asia Radio
Cousin
Marriages Blamed for Congenital Problems
Doctors in Tajikistan say the increase in marriage between blood relatives
is to blame for many health problems in newborn babies.
Tajikistan’s
institute of gynaecology and pediatrics says that a minimum of 27 per cent of
the birth defects it recorded last year were attributable to consanguinal
marriage.
Marriage between first cousins is steadily rising in Tajikistan, and is
believed to account for nearly one in five of all new marriages. The idea is to
ensure that property is retained within the extended family when it comes to
inheritance.
Reporter Rahmatullo Odinaev interviewed parents whose children were born with
problems and spoke to doctors who said congenital problems were more common
when parents share a chromosome. If both parents share a common ancestor, any
proclivity to a particular health problem can be doubled in their children.
Some doctors believe that the law needs to be changed to bar marriage between
first cousins. However, there are Muslim clerics who say cousin marriage is
permissible, and the fate of the children lies beyond man’s control.
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