Hospital staff have been urged to stop discouraging first cousin marriages by a government-funded NHS monitoring board.
The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) told NHS staff “it is unacceptable to discourage close relative marriage in a blanket way” because parents are only at a “slightly increased” risk of having a child with a genetic disorder.
It said genetic counsellors should meet the couple and their relatives to advise them on how to “consider arranging future marriages outside of the family”.
The document, seen by The Times, said: “Action at community level may help people to understand and act on [our] advice; but this is only acceptable if information is balanced, non-stigmatising and non-directive.”
Health bosses have been urged to expand an existing investigation into separate NHS guidance, which states that there is a benefit in cousin marriage, to include this NCMD document.
First cousin marriage, fairly common in the British-Pakistani community, remains legal despite warnings that it raises the risk of children ending up with birth defects.
The NCMD, based at the University of Bristol, has received more than £3.5m in taxpayer funding to record and interpret data on all children who die. The document was first issued in 2023.
Ministers have faced mounting calls to ban cousin marriage in recent years because of potential health problems for the children of blood relatives.
Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, introduced proposals to outlaw the practice in 2024 when he was a backbench MP.
He said the children of first cousins were at greater risk of birth defects and the practice should be banned on public health grounds. Downing Street said at the time that it had no plans to outlaw it.
Mr Holden told The Times: “Our NHS should stop taking the knee to damaging and oppressive cultural practices. This guidance turns basic public health into public harm.
“First cousin marriage carries far higher genetic risk, as well as damaging individual liberty and societal cohesion. Pretending otherwise helps no one, least of all the children born with avoidable conditions and those trapped in heavy-handed patriarchal power structures they can’t leave for fear of total ostracism.”
Close relative neonatal nurse
Last week, it emerged that an NHS hospital trust had recruited a nurse to support families where parents are close relatives.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advertised the position for a “close relative marriage neonatal nurse/midwife”.
The job description said the successful candidate would “provide comprehensive care and support to families who have recently had a baby and are close relatives, cousins, uncles, aunts, or other closely related family members”.
The NCMD told The Times: “The purpose of the National Child Mortality Database is to collect data on deaths and share our findings to improve and save children’s lives.
“We do not instruct the NHS or its staff on practice, except where we either a) make recommendations for professionals to help reduce mortality in children; or b) inform those professionals who have a statutory responsibility to review child deaths of how best to submit information to our database.”
The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) told NHS staff “it is unacceptable to discourage close relative marriage in a blanket way” because parents are only at a “slightly increased” risk of having a child with a genetic disorder.
It said genetic counsellors should meet the couple and their relatives to advise them on how to “consider arranging future marriages outside of the family”.
The document, seen by The Times, said: “Action at community level may help people to understand and act on [our] advice; but this is only acceptable if information is balanced, non-stigmatising and non-directive.”
Health bosses have been urged to expand an existing investigation into separate NHS guidance, which states that there is a benefit in cousin marriage, to include this NCMD document.
First cousin marriage, fairly common in the British-Pakistani community, remains legal despite warnings that it raises the risk of children ending up with birth defects.
The NCMD, based at the University of Bristol, has received more than £3.5m in taxpayer funding to record and interpret data on all children who die. The document was first issued in 2023.
Ministers have faced mounting calls to ban cousin marriage in recent years because of potential health problems for the children of blood relatives.
Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, introduced proposals to outlaw the practice in 2024 when he was a backbench MP.
He said the children of first cousins were at greater risk of birth defects and the practice should be banned on public health grounds. Downing Street said at the time that it had no plans to outlaw it.
Mr Holden told The Times: “Our NHS should stop taking the knee to damaging and oppressive cultural practices. This guidance turns basic public health into public harm.
“First cousin marriage carries far higher genetic risk, as well as damaging individual liberty and societal cohesion. Pretending otherwise helps no one, least of all the children born with avoidable conditions and those trapped in heavy-handed patriarchal power structures they can’t leave for fear of total ostracism.”
Close relative neonatal nurse
Last week, it emerged that an NHS hospital trust had recruited a nurse to support families where parents are close relatives.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust advertised the position for a “close relative marriage neonatal nurse/midwife”.
The job description said the successful candidate would “provide comprehensive care and support to families who have recently had a baby and are close relatives, cousins, uncles, aunts, or other closely related family members”.
The NCMD told The Times: “The purpose of the National Child Mortality Database is to collect data on deaths and share our findings to improve and save children’s lives.
“We do not instruct the NHS or its staff on practice, except where we either a) make recommendations for professionals to help reduce mortality in children; or b) inform those professionals who have a statutory responsibility to review child deaths of how best to submit information to our database.”
