More young infant deaths are linked to close relative marriage than substance abuse, official figures show
Official figures have revealed that more infant deaths are linked to marriages between cousins than drug abuse during pregnancy.
Data from the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) linked close relative marriages to the deaths or ill health of 72 infants younger than one-year-old in 2023/24.
Meanwhile 27 deaths were linked to substance abuse during the pregnancy.
And after infancy, the data revealed that cousin marriages were linked to the death of a further 55 children aged one to 17-years-old.
Close relative marriage – which is particularly prevalent in the South Asian community – is legal in the UK but has been linked to an increased risk of genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
The fresh findings come just weeks after the NHS was blasted for releasing fresh guidance that claimed cousin marriage offers benefits such as ‘stronger extended family support systems’.
The guidance, released by NHS England’s Genomics Education Programme, argues that ‘although first-cousin marriage is linked to an increased likelihood of a child having a genetic condition or a congenital anomaly, there are many other factors that also increase this chance’.
Among the examples it gave were ‘parental age, smoking, alcohol use and assisted reproductive technologies’, stressing that ‘none of (these) are banned in the UK’.
A South Asian wedding ceremony. Close relative marriages remain particularly common in the community
It claims inter-marriage offers benefits which include ‘stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages (resources, property and inheritance can be consolidated rather than diluted across households),’
The guidance added that as banning the practice would ‘stigmatise certain communities and cultural traditions’, the authorities should instead offer ‘genetic counselling, awareness-raising initiatives and public health campaigns’.
And it says ‘although children of first cousins have an increased chance of being born with a genetic condition, that increase is a small one’.
Adding that most children of first cousins are ‘healthy’.
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting has since called on the health service to issue an apology for publishing the guidelines.
In response to the data, Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told the Daily Telegraph: ‘We didn’t used to have this problem. It’s been neglected for far too long for fear of confronting the costs of mass migration.
‘The practice of first-cousin marriage was banned in Norway last year and is also banned across most US states. It’s time the UK came in line by outlawing this practice that has dangerous and damaging implications for many, particularly vulnerable girls and women.
A YouGov poll earlier this year found that three quarters of Britons support a ban, with only 9 per cent thinking the law should remain as it is.
Overall, the data shows that low birth weight remains the most common cause of death for children younger than one-year-old.
Marriages within families remain the second highest contributing factor for deaths for children over one-year-old after the mental health condition of a parent or legal guardian.
