Scientists in Western Australia, Australia, are now challenging the problem that close relatives will give birth to unhealthy babies. This highly controversial topic has been puzzling people. In the past, people always thought that inbreeding would give birth to deformed babies, who suffered from many diseases, such as heart disease, mental retardation, deafness and even blindness. In 200 1 year, a scientific report published by an authoritative magazine in Australia claimed that the probability of a cousin getting married and giving birth to a deformed child was three times that of a non-relative. However, Allen Bito, a professor of comparative genomics at Murdoch University, has spent 30 years studying this topic and found that most of her cousins are healthy.
In Western Australia, Australia, about 500 couples get married through cousins. Professor Allen came to the conclusion through research: "In western culture, there is a general idea that cousin marriage leads to genetic tragedy, but a large number of facts have proved this idea wrong. Cousins can also give birth to healthy babies. "
Professor Bito conducted a survey in 1 1 countries, and found that the probability of giving birth to a deformed baby was 2%, while the probability of giving birth to a deformed baby by a close relative only increased to 4%. He also found that the infant mortality rate of close relatives is only 1.2%, which coincides with his research in 2002: the probability of a cousin getting married and giving birth to a deformed baby is less than 3%. This question triggered a heated medical debate at the medical seminar of the Royal Society of East London. Some researchers and politicians claim that in Britain, consanguineous marriage can lead to very serious consequences, and their children may be deformed or even die prematurely. The opponents represented by Professor Bito spoke: "As for the genetic tragedy of marriage, I think it is more related to excessive drinking and smoking." Many famous people, such as Einstein, Darwin and Jerry Lee Lewis, a rock musician, were married by close relatives. Cousin marriage is common in some countries, such as Pakistan, South Asia and Middle East countries.
Professor Bito said that it is wrong to say that cousin marriage is extremely rare. In fact, in many parts of the earth, cousins get married more frequently. The population of these areas adds up to more than 654.38 billion, and about 20% to 50% of marriages there are related by blood.