Heather Little-White, Ph.D., Contributor

What is the deal for marrying your cousin when several other eligible partners are around? It has always been said that marrying a member of your family could be considered incestuous and an impediment to marriage. However, some persons are a little more lenient in their condemnation of the marriage between cousins, especially distant cousins.

Cousin marriages are often discouraged because of the belief that marrying blood relatives could lead to birth defects in the child. One broad definition of family is a group of two or more people related by marriage, blood relation, or adoption.

In Jamaica, there were some who gave their blessing to cousins marrying, and described in Jamaican parlance the 'cousin and cousin mek good soup'. Janetand Raymondare two cousins who have been married for 10 years and have three healthy boys. It was only two weeks before the wedding that the couple learned that they were related. Janet, born in St. Ann, is a teacher who went to do practise teaching in St. Thomas when she met Raymond, an agriculturalist, born and bred in St. Thomas.

Their meeting was love at first sight and Janet never returned to St. Ann to live. Janet's mother came from England for the wedding of her only daughter, and when she heard of the surname of Raymond's family, she started to trace her family tree. It was then she discovered that Janet and Raymond were second cousins. Initially, the thought was a little repulsive for Janet, who harboured the fear of birth defects in her children, but with counselling from her doctor and pastor, the wedding was not cancelled.

Jamaican law

Jamaican law does not prohibit cousins from entering into sexual unions with each other. A Gleaner article on Monday, March 19, reported "Kinder law of 'Kissing Cousins'" as a result of the decision by a joint select committee of Parliament not to include unions of cousins in the definition of prohibited incestuous relationships. Inter-marriage of cousins is a practice that has been around for ages and has existed across cultures. In West African francophone countries, a common saying is 'cousins are made for cousins', writes a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania. (www.straightdope.com).

European countries permit marriage among cousins, and in parts of Africa and Asia marriages between cousins are preferred and, as such, are arranged by older family members and friends. In several countries, cross-cousin marriages occupy a significant place in traditional matrimonial alliances. It is believed that these marriages will help siblings separated by marriage to regain contact if their children intermarry and demonstrate sibling solidarity.

Loyalty

In the Middle East, cousin marriages create a clan of fierce internal cohesiveness and unity, and are like miniature governments providing the services and social aid that western countries would receive from the local and national governments. It is this kind of loyalty and cohesiveness of inter-clan unions in Iraq which has undermined the strength of the Americans in the current war, according to Anne Bobroff-Hajal, writing in the December 2006 issue of the Christian Science Monitor in an article titled 'Clan loyalty fixed by cousin marriage was always bound to undermine democracy in Iraq'.

However, in general, geneticists believe that there is nothing wrong with in-cousin marriages or in-marrying into a small genetic pool. A New York Times article by Denise Grady (2002) writes that contrary to the age-old myth and taboos of many Americans, first cousins can have children without the risk of birth defects. A panel of researchers convened by National Society of Genetic Counsellors concluded that the general risks for life were not high, and questioned the right of other people to have children even though they have far higher risks than first cousins. High risk persons include those with Huntington's disease and haemophilia.

Outlawed

The United States of America is one of few developed nations outlawing marriage among first countries. The practice is illegal in 31 states, and some will allow it if there are no plans for procreation, for fear of producing babies with congenital defects, such as spina bifida or cystic fibrosis. Anthropologist, Martin Ottenheimer, believes that the U.S. is still holding on to the flawed 19th century research which exaggerated the dangers of mental illness, blindness and deformity among children of close relatives.

A new study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics claimed that physicians were close to a pre-natal diagnosis of a rare genetic disorder called Joubert syndrome. This condition affects that area of the brain responsible for controlling balance and coordination. Principal researcher, Joseph Gleeson, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, added that the search is still on to know the exact genes involved because the population of intermarrieds is relatively small. The focus has been on three Middle Eastern families whose relatives had intermarried and passed the genetic defect to several family members.

It is no April Fool's Day joke. The marriage of cousins around the world is taking on new dimensions and is of interest to researchers in medical schools, ethicists and genetic interest groups.

Names changed