> Baroness Flather said because of 'inbreeding', members of the ethnic group are 13 TIMES more likely than the rest of the UK population to have disabled children.
> The Pakistan-born peer has called on the Government to take steps against the issue of unions between close relatives in Muslim communities, which she called an "outdated, un-British custom".
...
> She also accused Britain of a "cowardly reluctance to tackle damaging social practices within certain ethnic minorities".
> In what has been described as a brave attempt to break a taboo she said there was a fear of "accusations of racial prejudice" which has made the issue "unsayable".
> She added: "That is certainly what happened over the disgraceful sex-grooming scandal in Rotherham, in which the civic authorities, including the police and social services, tried to cover up the systematic abuse of more than 1,400 vulnerable girls by predatory gangs of Pakistani heritage men."
It's noteworthy that it's simultaneously socially unacceptable to criticize Pakistanis for their preference for first cousin marriages, despite the undeniable harm caused by it, and yet it's also socially unacceptable for whites to have the much less incestuous preference for just marrying other whites, despite the absence of harm:
The condition itself is often (though not always) caused by a recessive mutation, which consanguineous marriages--ever popular in Pakistan--significantly increase the risk unmasking:
While isolated instances of first cousin marriage aren't especially harmful, contrary to what some comments here suggest, if done across successive generations, these unions can produce a catastrophic unmasking of harmful recessive alleles, and the nations with the highest rates of consanguineous marriages also often have the highest rates of birth defects (see p. 22): https://www.marchofdimes.org/materials/global-report-on-birt...
However, while the dangers of inbreeding depression are common knowledge, it's worth pointing out that outbreeding depression exists as well. Where lies the ideal balance between these two extremes? Surprisingly, it appears to be marriages between third or fourth cousins, if you use fecundity as a proxy for general offspring health: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080207140855.h...
A third or fourth cousin is a person with whom you share first cousin grandparents or great grandparents--essentially a distant relative, or simply put, someone of your own "race," which is quite at odds with the "hybrid vigor" claims often made to tout interracial marriage. Apparently just marrying any old white person (if you're white) gives you all the hybrid vigor your offspring need.
> Baroness Flather said because of 'inbreeding', members of the ethnic group are 13 TIMES more likely than the rest of the UK population to have disabled children.
> The Pakistan-born peer has called on the Government to take steps against the issue of unions between close relatives in Muslim communities, which she called an "outdated, un-British custom".
...
> She also accused Britain of a "cowardly reluctance to tackle damaging social practices within certain ethnic minorities".
> In what has been described as a brave attempt to break a taboo she said there was a fear of "accusations of racial prejudice" which has made the issue "unsayable".
> She added: "That is certainly what happened over the disgraceful sex-grooming scandal in Rotherham, in which the civic authorities, including the police and social services, tried to cover up the systematic abuse of more than 1,400 vulnerable girls by predatory gangs of Pakistani heritage men."