Marriage between close relatives will increase the number of genetic diseases. my country’s Marriage Law clearly stipulates that direct blood relatives and collateral blood relatives within three generations are prohibited from marrying. The use of legal means to restrict the marriage of close relatives is entirely for the couple to have a healthy and smart child and to improve the quality of our country\’s population. The harm caused by consanguineous marriage is considerable, mainly because it increases the chance of genetic diseases in the next generation. Children born from consanguineous marriage are more likely to have deformities and dementia. The neonatal mortality rate is high, which brings a burden to the family and society. .
Inbreeding is unscientific. This is because many people may carry certain inherited genes without showing up, becoming \”recessive genetic carriers.\” If they mate with close relatives who have the same bloodline and carry the same genetic gene, their offspring will manifest the recessive genetic disease of their parents and manifest it clinically as disease. Therefore, the chance of genetic diseases increases. If people of different ancestry are combined, the chance of carrying the same genetic disease gene is very small, so the chance of their offspring contracting the genetic disease is reduced.
Inbreeding can significantly increase the chance of encountering recessive disease-causing genes, and the incidence of recessive genetic diseases also increases.
This is because half of the genes between parents and children are the same, and 1/16 of the genes between cousins are the same. According to a survey, the consanguineous marriage rate of parents of children with dementia in a mountainous area in my country is 37.5%, and the prevalence rate of children born from consanguineous marriages is 41.6%. Foreign data show that the mortality rate of newborns in non-consanguineous marriages is 24%, while the mortality rate of newborns in consanguineous marriages is 81%, which is more than three times the former. According to statistics, the incidence rate of genetic diseases among children of consanguineous marriages is 150 times higher than that of ordinary marriages, and the mortality rate is more than three times higher. In addition, most children of consanguineous marriages have lower intelligence than children of non-consanguineous marriages.
For example, there is a congenital recessive genetic disease called hepatolenticular degeneration. Among offspring of non-consanguineous marriages, the chance of getting the disease is only 1/4 million; while for offspring of cousins who marry, , the chance of getting sick can be as high as 1/64. It has also been reported that children born from consanguineous marriages are 3.8 times more likely to be mentally retarded than those born from non-consanguineous marriages. It can be seen that consanguineous marriage has great harm to society and individual families. It is not difficult to see that incest marriage is a \”good soil\” for the spread of genetic diseases and a \”breeding ground\” for raising defective and imbecile children, and must be prohibited.
Since the ban on consanguineous marriages was written into the Marriage Law of our country, the number of consanguineous marriages has greatly decreased.However, there are still some people who do not understand the law, people who do not understand the dangers of incest marriage, and people who still have the old custom of incest marriage in remote and backward areas, who think that it is \”increasing closeness and continuing to be close\”, and they are still suffering from the harm of incest marriage. According to Chinese folk customs, intermarriage between cousins is often considered a taboo act of incest, while intermarriage between cousins is considered a legitimate \”closer relationship.\” In fact, there is no difference between the two. They are both consanguineous marriages, and they also endanger their children and grandchildren. It is just that there is no fundamental difference between the father and the mother.
Close relatives refer to direct blood relatives, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, maternal grandparents and maternal grandchildren; there are also collateral blood relatives within three generations, which are relatives with a common ancestor, such as brothers and sisters , cousins, uncles, aunts, uncles, etc. The people in these relationships are close relatives.
Some people have a sense of luck and conceal the marriage of close relatives, so they should pay more attention to genetic counseling before pregnancy. Children should go to the hospital for regular check-ups after birth. If your first child has a genetic disease, you should go to the hospital for genetic counseling whether to have a second child. If you have a lucky mentality and take risks to have a second child, the incidence of genetic diseases will be much higher than that of the average person.
Avoiding incest marriage can effectively control the incidence of genetic diseases, which is of great benefit to improving the quality of our country\’s population and reducing family burden and suffering. Our country’s marriage law has clear provisions on this. Young men and women must understand and abide by the law, and for the sake of the happiness of their own families, they must resolutely prohibit incest marriages. Collateral blood relatives within three generations are shown in the table below.
Collateral blood relatives within three generations:
Parents
Self
Grandparents
Father\’s brothers and sisters
Father\’s brothers and sisters\’ children
Father\’s brothers and sisters\’ grandchildren
Father\’s brothers and sisters\’ great-grandchildren
Brothers and sisters
Children of brothers and sisters
Grandchildren of brothers and sisters
Children
Brothers and sisters of mother
Children of maternal siblings
Grandchildren of maternal siblings
Great-grandchildren of maternal siblings
Maternal grandparents
This article is provided by Baidu Reading and is excerpted from \”Three Months Before Pregnancy – Pregnancy Preparation Period\” Author: Wang Liru