Lawalye
07-23-2015, 12:25 AM
British Pakistanis are THIRTEEN times more likely to have disabled children because of intermarriage
Britain can rightly take pride in its tolerant outlook. Indeed, it is this attitude that has helped to build our remarkably successful multi-ethnic society, even as immigration has reached unprecedented levels.
But there is a danger that such tolerance sometimes degenerates into a cowardly reluctance to tackle damaging social practices within certain ethnic minorities. In political circles, the fear of accusations of racial prejudice can create a climate of denial, where hard realities are ignored and difficult truths become unsayable.
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.
I am referring to the outdated, unBritish custom within some Muslim communities of marriage among close relatives, especially first cousins.
This tradition, which is followed mainly by migrant families who originate from the Kashmir region of Pakistan, has the tragic consequence of causing disproportionately high rates of disability among their offspring because of the far greater risks of genetic disorders.
The facts are all too stark. A study of the Bradford region found that 37 per cent of babies of Pakistani origin had parents who were first cousins.
Such marriages are partly out of the conformist desire to keep all property within the family, partly out of the wish to bring over another relative to this country.
But the heart-rending result is that, according to the Government's own research, British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce disabled children. The figures are even more shocking in places with a large Muslim population, such as Bradford, where one survey in 2011 revealed that 70 per cent of Pakistani women marry one of their relatives.
It is little wonder, then, that more than 6 per cent of all children born in the city have severe disabilities, including blindness, deafness and neuro-degenerative conditions.
More in the article : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3162989/The-brave-woman-dares-shatter-toxic-taboo.html
Britain can rightly take pride in its tolerant outlook. Indeed, it is this attitude that has helped to build our remarkably successful multi-ethnic society, even as immigration has reached unprecedented levels.
But there is a danger that such tolerance sometimes degenerates into a cowardly reluctance to tackle damaging social practices within certain ethnic minorities. In political circles, the fear of accusations of racial prejudice can create a climate of denial, where hard realities are ignored and difficult truths become unsayable.
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.
I am referring to the outdated, unBritish custom within some Muslim communities of marriage among close relatives, especially first cousins.
This tradition, which is followed mainly by migrant families who originate from the Kashmir region of Pakistan, has the tragic consequence of causing disproportionately high rates of disability among their offspring because of the far greater risks of genetic disorders.
The facts are all too stark. A study of the Bradford region found that 37 per cent of babies of Pakistani origin had parents who were first cousins.
Such marriages are partly out of the conformist desire to keep all property within the family, partly out of the wish to bring over another relative to this country.
But the heart-rending result is that, according to the Government's own research, British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce disabled children. The figures are even more shocking in places with a large Muslim population, such as Bradford, where one survey in 2011 revealed that 70 per cent of Pakistani women marry one of their relatives.
It is little wonder, then, that more than 6 per cent of all children born in the city have severe disabilities, including blindness, deafness and neuro-degenerative conditions.
More in the article : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3162989/The-brave-woman-dares-shatter-toxic-taboo.html